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Critical raw materials act enters force May 23

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Faster permit process for strategic projects

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Joint purchasing of up to 30 minerals

By Philip Blenkinsop

BRUSSELS, May 15 (Reuters) - The European Commission

will launch calls within days for projects to improve EU supply

of critical minerals and hopes soon to begin joint EU purchases

along the lines of its existing scheme for gas, a senior

commissioner said on Wednesday.

The EU Critical Raw Materials Act is designed to guarantee a

supply of lithium, copper and other minerals crucial for the

EU's green and digital transitions, to enable the bloc to

produce its own electric vehicles or wind turbines and to reduce

dependence on China. It enters force on May 23.

Commission Vice-President Maros Sefcovic said the EU

executive would convene a first meeting of a board with EU

members overseeing the act.

"Within the days after that... we would like to launch the

first call for strategic projects," Sefcovic said on the

sidelines of the EU Raw Materials Summit in Brussels.

Processing, recycling or mining projects deemed strategic

should be able to secure permits in 15-27 months, far faster

than normal. Sweden's Eurobattery Minerals AB has said it will

submit an application for a mine in Finland to be strategic.

Sefcovic said the Commission was beginning to sketch out

plans for joint purchases of up to about 30 materials, building

on its experience of common purchases of gas. The EU executive

would act as a matchmaker between global suppliers and EU

purchasers.

Sefcovic said the scheme should be launched "rather sooner

than later", recognising that EU members would need to be

convinced, which took some time in the case of gas.

The commissioner said the platform used for gas purchases

could serve as a blueprint, though recognised buying multiple

different critical minerals would be more complex. The system

could also be used to get a more precise sense of future demand.

Sefcovic said the Commission was also looking into the

possibility of stockpiling certain key minerals, saying

inspiration came from the Japanese model for rare earths.