EU Commission recognises 46 critical raw material projects as Strategic Projects
- Projects cover extraction, processing and recycling across Member States
- No objections from Member States concerned to the listed projects, decision says
- 101 applications submitted by second cut-off date of Jan 15, 2026
Photo: Wikimedia Commons - Stephan Sprinz, CC BY 4.0BRUSSELS, Oct 9 — The European Commission on Oct 9 recognised the critical raw material projects listed in an annex as Strategic Projects under Regulation (EU) 2024/1252, in a decision aimed at securing the Union's supply of critical raw materials.
The annex to Commission Decision (EU) 2026/2349 lists 46 projects, with promoters including Umicore, KGHM Polska Miedź S.A., Aurubis AG, Leonardo S.p.A. and Rhodia Operations.
They include the Skouries Project in Greece and the Viscaria Copper Project in Sweden, both extraction projects contributing to the supply of copper, and the Sokli extraction project in Finland for rare earth elements for magnets.
The Zinnwald Lithium Project in Germany, an integrated project, aims to contribute to the supply of battery-grade lithium, according to the annex.
The Commission said 101 applications from proposed projects located in Member States were submitted by the second cut-off date of Jan 15, 2026, and it considered 98 of them complete.
The Commission assessed the applications on their contribution to the security of supply of strategic raw materials, technical feasibility, sustainable implementation and cross-border benefits, with the support of external experts, the decision said.
None of the projects listed in the annex received an objection from the Member States whose territory they concern, according to the decision, which it said was in accordance with the opinion of the European Critical Raw Materials Board.
The decision, signed by Executive Vice-President Stéphane Séjourné, was published in the Official Journal of the European Union on Oct 22, 2026. The Commission launched the call for applications on May 23, 2024.