Commission grants Strategic Project status to 46 critical raw materials ventures

The European Commission has recognised 46 critical raw material projects as Strategic Projects, granting them privileged status under the EU framework for secure and sustainable raw material supply. The decision was adopted on 9 October 2026 and published in the Official Journal of the European Union on 22 October 2026 as Commission Decision (EU) 2026/2349. It follows a call for applications that drew 101 submissions by the second cut-off date, of which 98 were considered complete.

The legal basis is Regulation (EU) 2024/1252 of 11 April 2024, and specifically Article 7(9), which empowers the Commission to recognise projects meeting the criteria of Article 6(1): contribution to supply security, technical feasibility, sustainable implementation and cross-border benefits. The call was launched on 23 May 2024, with a second cut-off on 15 January 2026; applicants were told on 13 February 2026 whether their files were complete. Assessment was carried out with external experts in technical, financial, environmental, social and governance matters and in the United Nations Framework Classification for Resources, and the European Critical Raw Materials Board was consulted throughout.

Sixteen Member States on the map

The 46 projects are distributed across sixteen Member States, with Germany and France and Italy carrying the heaviest concentration:

• Germany: eight projects, including AMG Lithium GmbH’s Bitterfeld refining and recycling hub, Aurubis AG’s Second TBRC Lünen, cylib Production I GmbH’s EU BEST STRAT, HyProMag GmbH, Isabellenhütte Heusler GmbH & Co. KG, Neptune Energy Innovations GmbH’s Altmark lithium extraction, Pure Batterry Technologies Ltd. and Zinnwald Lithium Plc.
• France: five, among them Rhodia Operations’ BREES rare earth separation, Lithium de France, Aubert & Duval SAS’ LUERN, NEOMAT PCAM and ELECTRO MOBILITY MATERIALS EUROPE (EMME).
• Italy: five, including 9-Tech, Alkeemia S.p.A., Leonardo S.p.A., Italrecycling & Investment srl and OMCD TEK HUB S.p.A.
• Finland: four — FinnCobalt Oy, Arctial Group Oy, Sokli Oy and Suhanko Arctic Platinum Oy.
• Netherlands: four — Mitsubishi Materials Europe B.V, Myne Circular Metals B.V, Back to Battery B.V. and CRITICAL. (owner of Circular Industries).
• Poland: three, two of them promoted by KGHM Polska Miedź S.A., plus TDM Electronics Inc.
• Greece: three — ElvalHalcor Hellenic Copper and Aluminium industry S.A., the aluminium rolling division of ELVALHALCOR and Hellas Gold S.A.
• Belgium: three — Umicore (twice) and Comet Traitements.
• Spain: two — ABENÓJAR TUNGSTEN S.A. and Cobre San Rafael, S.L.
• Romania: two — ECO LIFE STYLE S.R.L. and Verde Magnesium Industries SRL.
• Slovakia: two — CMK s.r.o. and Slovalco, a.s.
• One each in Portugal (MINERALIA), Lithuania (Refinis), Estonia (NPM Silmet OÜ), Sweden (Gruvaktiebolaget Viscaria) and Bulgaria (Aurubis Bulgaria AD).

From lithium to tungsten: the materials at stake

The portfolio covers the full strategic list, with battery-grade lithium, copper, rare earth elements for magnets, tungsten, graphite, gallium, germanium, magnesium, titanium metal and platinum group metals all represented. Copper is the single most frequent target, appearing in projects from the Netherlands and Belgium to Poland, Greece, Sweden and Bulgaria.

• Lithium: Altmark (Germany), Bitterfeld (Germany), Lithium de France, Zinnwald (Germany) and the Racari battery recycling plant (Romania).
• Tungsten: the EU APT Tungsten Plant (Spain), Borralha (Portugal) and REW-ITA green HUB (Italy).
• Rare earths for magnets: BREES (France), HyProMag (Germany), Silmet 2.0 (Estonia) and Sokli (Finland).
• Graphite: Alkeemia PureGraph (Italy).
• Gallium and germanium: GaRefine (Slovakia) and Urban mining (Poland).
• Titanium and magnesium: LUERN and Titanium alloys made in Europe, plus Verde Magnesium Industries (Romania).

Recycling takes the largest share

By project type, recycling dominates with nineteen ventures, ahead of eleven processing, eight extraction and eight integrated projects. The recycling cluster spans end-of-life photovoltaic panels, printed circuit boards, low-quality copper scrap, battery black mass and defence byproducts — a sign that secondary supply is being treated as strategic infrastructure rather than waste management.

One project crosses borders explicitly: Leonardo S.p.A.’s CRM4Defence covers sites in Italy, Poland, France and the United Kingdom. The Commission recorded that none of the recognised projects received an objection from the Member States concerned, and the decision is stated to be in accordance with the opinion of the Board. It was signed by Stéphane Séjourné, Executive Vice-President, and notified under document C(2026) 8051; only the English text is authentic.

The recognition matters because Strategic Project status is the gateway to the accelerated permitting and financing channels built into the EU’s raw materials law. With 46 of 101 applicants cleared, the Commission has effectively drawn the first detailed map of where Europe intends to mine, refine and recycle the inputs for its batteries, magnets and defence supply chains — and it has placed most of its bets on reprocessing rather than on new mines.

Source: Official Journal of the European Union, L series, No 2026/2349, 22 October 2026, p. 1 (official reference: Commission Decision (EU) 2026/2349, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/dec/2026/2349/oj).