Europe fears Chinese lithium: It mustn’t become new Russian gas, opposition to mining projects in Serbia and Portugal needs to be overcome

We do not want to replace our dependence on fossil fuels with dependence on raw materials, Vice-president responsible for industrial strategy Stéphane Séjourné told reporters in Brussels yesterday, after the EU drew up a priority list of 47 projects for the mining and processing of critical raw materials.

– Chinese lithium will not be tomorrow’s Russian gas – Séjourné pointed out, alluding to China’s position as the pre-eminent supplier of many essential elements, Euronews reports. Let us remind that, in early January, China announced the discovery of massive lithium sites in Tibet.

The EU has now drawn up a priority list of 47 projects for the mining and processing of critical raw materials, which local authorities will be required to fast-track through the permitting process in as little as 15 months or less. Of 170 that applied for designation as an EU Strategic Project, 46 were from outside the EU and will be decided upon in the coming weeks after further deliberations that Séjourné acknowledged would involve a political dimension, reports Euronews.

The Commission vice-president denied, however, that the actions of the US – which has signaled an interest in critical raw materials in Greenland, Ukraine and even Canada – were a driving force behind the EU’s raw materials policy.

– On the other hand, there is probably a measure of urgence and speed that did not exist three or four months ago in commercial relations and geopolitical tensions, which we must take into account – he said.

Robin Roels, coordinator of the EU Raw Materials Coalition of environmental NGOs warned the Commission risked undermining public trust through an “opaque” selection process.

– Despite repeated requests, the full list of project applicants and the evaluation criteria remain undisclosed. If the EU is serious about a fair and sustainable transition, it must open up this process to genuine scrutiny and ensure that community voices are heard – Roels said. The Commission, Euronews writes, is clearly aware that public opposition to mining projects – which has stymied efforts to develop lithium extraction in Portugal and Serbia, to give just two recent examples – will need to be overcome if the EU is to achieve its 2030 targets.

Under a Critical Raw Materials Act adopted a year ago, governments are committed to ensuring that 10% of mineral extraction, 40% of processing and 25% of recycling takes place within the EU by the end of the decade.

– Producing in Europe will also mean political work on the social acceptability of these projects – Séjourné said, stressing the need to underline the national as well as European interests at stake.

By the way, 47 priority projects are distributed in 13 EU member states. There is not a single project from Serbia on the list, although, as previously reported by the media, Rio Tinto, which plans to mine lithium in Serbia, nominated its Jadar project.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić said yesterday in Brussels that the European Union would declare Jadar as its strategic project outside the EU countries seven or eight days later.