The European Commission has selected 46 new strategic projects across 16 member states, aiming to strengthen Europe’s capacity to extract, process and recycle the materials essential to its industrial future.
The European Union is stepping up efforts to secure the raw materials behind its industrial and technological ambitions. On October 9, the European Commission announced 46 new strategic projects across 16 member states, marking another step in its attempt to diversify supply chains and reduce dependence on individual external suppliers.
The projects cover 15 of the 17 strategic raw materials identified under the EU’s Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA), including lithium, nickel, cobalt, graphite and rare earth elements. They span extraction, processing and recycling, with an estimated capital investment requirement of approximately €21.1 billion from public and private sources, according to the Commission and Reuters.
The announcement highlights a broader European policy challenge: securing reliable access to essential industrial materials while building competitive domestic production capacity. However, the projects’ designation does not guarantee financing, completed construction or future commercial output. Their impact will depend on whether they can move from strategic approval to operational production.
Europe’s 2030 Raw Materials Targets
The initiative forms part of the EU’s wider effort to strengthen its economic resilience and reduce vulnerabilities in strategically important supply chains.
The Critical Raw Materials Act entered into force on May 23, 2024. It establishes three benchmarks for 2030: EU extraction capacity should meet at least 10% of the bloc’s annual consumption of strategic raw materials, processing capacity should reach at least 40%, and recycling capacity should cover at least 25%.
The legislation also aims to diversify external supplies, setting the objective that no single third country should account for more than 65% of the EU’s annual consumption of any strategic raw material at a relevant stage of processing.
These benchmarks reflect the different stages involved in securing a reliable supply. Access to mineral deposits alone is insufficient if the materials must still be shipped elsewhere for refining or conversion into industrial inputs. Recycling can also provide secondary sources of supply, although its contribution depends on collection systems, recovery technology and the availability of suitable waste streams.
The newly selected projects are intended to strengthen these different parts of the value chain rather than concentrate exclusively on mining.
46 Projects Across 16 Member States
The new projects are located in Belgium, Bulgaria, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Spain and Sweden.
The European Commission selected them from a second-round application process that received 102 applications across 18 member states. Of those, 92 were assessed by the Commission and external experts against criteria including security of supply, technical feasibility, environmental and social standards, and benefits for the wider European market.
The 46 selected projects cover different stages of the raw materials value chain. Eight focus on extraction, 11 on processing and 19 on recycling. Another eight are integrated projects: three combine extraction and processing, while five combine processing and recycling.
The distinction matters because a more resilient supply chain requires multiple capabilities. Mining projects can increase access to resources, processing facilities can convert them into usable industrial materials, and recycling projects can recover valuable inputs from products and industrial waste.
Together, the projects are intended to support European supply chains serving battery manufacturing, defence, aerospace and permanent-magnet production. Their designation signals strategic importance, but does not establish that all will reach commercial operation on the same timetable.
Why Lithium, Nickel and Rare Earths Matter
The project portfolio reflects the range of materials required by modern industrial production.
Lithium, nickel, cobalt, manganese and graphite are important to battery supply chains. Rare earth elements are used in permanent magnets found in a range of electric motors and advanced technologies. Magnesium and tungsten also have applications relevant to defence and aerospace.
According to the Commission, the new group includes seven lithium projects, 12 involving nickel, 10 involving cobalt, five involving manganese and four involving graphite. Four projects concern rare earth elements, while two involve magnesium and three involve tungsten.
These figures describe the materials covered by the projects; they are not estimates of future production volumes. Individual projects may also cover multiple materials or stages of the value chain.
The commercial significance will ultimately depend on the quantity and quality of materials produced, the costs of processing them and the ability of European manufacturers to secure reliable supplies on competitive terms. <Cite refs={[“turn545419view0”]}/>
The Investment Challenge: Strategic Status Is Not Funding
The scale of the investment requirement is one of the most important aspects of the announcement.
The 46 projects are expected to require approximately €21.1 billion in capital investment. This is a projected funding requirement, not a sum already committed by the EU or a guarantee that the projects will receive public financing.
Strategic designation is intended to help projects access funding, connect with potential investors and benefit from more coordinated permitting procedures. It does not remove the financial and operational risks associated with developing mines, processing facilities and recycling infrastructure.
The experience of the first round of projects illustrates the distinction between policy support and delivery. The Commission reported that, among the projects selected in 2025, 25 had completed their environmental impact assessments and 17 had obtained construction permits by October 9, 2026.
The Commission also said that more than €2 billion in financial support had been mobilised through the EU and member-state-backed Team Europe framework since the launch of its RESourceEU initiative. That figure relates to financial support mobilised for the wider effort; it should not be confused with funding already secured by all 46 newly selected projects.
For developers, the next hurdles include securing financing, obtaining permits, completing construction and establishing commercial agreements with buyers. For policymakers, the challenge is to translate strategic priorities into operating capacity without overlooking environmental standards or economic viability.
Reducing Supply-Chain Dependence Without Assuming Self-Sufficiency
The initiative also has a geopolitical dimension.
China occupies a significant position in the global processing of several critical minerals and in the production of components such as batteries and rare earth magnets. This creates potential vulnerabilities for European industries that depend on a concentrated supply of essential materials.
The Commission’s latest project selection is intended to diversify supply and strengthen European capacity. It does not, however, mean that Europe can immediately replace imports or operate independently of international markets.
Developing domestic capacity takes time, and European projects will need to compete on cost, quality, reliability and environmental performance. Some materials may continue to be sourced more efficiently from external suppliers, while international partnerships will remain relevant to the bloc’s industrial strategy.
A more diversified supply chain is therefore a more realistic objective than complete self-sufficiency. Expanding European extraction, processing and recycling can give manufacturers additional options, while reducing the risks associated with excessive reliance on a single source.
The economic test will be whether these projects create dependable alternatives that businesses can use at commercially viable prices.
Recycling as an Industrial Resource
Recycling is another important element of Europe’s raw materials strategy.
Recovering materials from used batteries, electronic equipment and industrial waste can provide secondary supplies and reduce the need for some new extraction. It can also support the development of a more circular industrial economy.
Yet recycling is not an automatic substitute for mining. Recovery rates differ between materials and products, and the availability of recyclable inputs depends on product lifetimes, collection systems and processing technologies. Some materials are also difficult or costly to recover at sufficient purity.
The inclusion of 19 recycling-focused projects, alongside integrated projects combining processing and recycling, shows that the Commission is treating resource recovery as a significant part of the supply chain.
For European manufacturers, the potential benefit is a broader range of supply sources. For project developers, commercial success will depend on whether recovered materials can be processed efficiently and sold into markets that can support the necessary investment.
The contribution of recycling to the EU’s 2030 targets will therefore depend on actual operating capacity and recovered material volumes, rather than the number of projects designated.
What Happens Next?
The latest selection builds on the first round of projects approved in 2025. That earlier group comprised 47 projects within the EU and 13 in third countries. With the addition of the 46 projects announced on October 9, the Commission has designated 106 strategic projects in total across the three groups.
The Commission has said it plans to announce another call for strategic project applications toward the end of 2026. In the meantime, the immediate priority is to help selected projects advance through financing, permitting and development.
For businesses, the key questions are practical: when will new capacity become available, how much material will it produce, and will supply be reliable and competitively priced? For policymakers, progress will need to be measured against actual production, processing and recycling capacity, as well as the diversification of supply.
The 46 new projects represent a further step in Europe’s effort to build a more resilient raw materials sector. But strategic designation is only the beginning. The long-term value of the initiative will depend on whether the projects deliver the industrial capacity needed to support Europe’s batteries, clean technologies, advanced manufacturing and other strategic sectors.
Subscribe to EuroLuminant for independent European journalism.
