00:00Lithium, cobalt and rare earths are the oil and gas of the future.
00:05Not only China, but also the US, the EU and the rest of the world now understands this.
00:11The EU wants to achieve the seemingly impossible and in record time.
00:16It wants to become independent of China, make up for the last several decades of raw material
00:21dependence, not antagonize the local population with drilling and mining, and at the same
00:27time mine record quantities of new raw materials from European soil.
00:32But does the EU really have a chance of achieving raw material independence, and can it meet
00:37its ambitious sustainability goals?
00:41As a united Europe, we have to try to make ourselves more independent, i.e. to reduce
00:47our dependency on China in particular, but also on other countries when it comes to individual
00:52raw materials.
00:54And that's why the EU has now decided, for example, with the Critical Raw Materials Act,
01:01which is effectively a European raw materials law, to again invest in its own capacities,
01:07its own mining, its own processing and its own recycling.
01:10Lithium, rare earths, graphite and other critical raw materials are essential for high-tech
01:26industries.
01:27Geologically, it's interesting that we now have many of the raw materials we need for
01:35the transformation in Europe.
01:38It's just that quite a lot has been outsourced to other countries in recent decades.
01:46That is set to change in the coming decades.
01:49Battery and processing factories are springing up in many parts of the EU, and companies
01:54and start-ups are working on building raw material loops for the future.
01:59New mining is being planned.
02:01Some experts are even talking about a new mining era.
02:05One example is the Rio Tinto mine in Andalusia, in the south of Spain.
02:10After environmental disasters and economic decline, Andalusia's mines are now suddenly
02:15in the spotlight.
02:18Everything stood still here for many years because copper was too cheap.
02:23Now copper prices are up again, and it's worth the enormous effort to mill and dissolve just
02:280.38% copper from the rock.
02:34More soil is a treasure for Andalusia and the European energy transition.
02:40The resource-rich region of Andalusia could play a decisive role in the targeted 10% of
02:45strategically important raw materials that are to come from the EU in the future.
02:54Many projects here qualify for the EU law, partly because 17 of the 30 critical minerals
03:00are located in Andalusia.
03:03That's why there will be new mines, but they are unlikely to create large craters in the
03:08Andalusian soil.
03:09A copper mine just 20 kilometers from Seville shows how the sector is changing.
03:15Everything is in place here for further underground mining in the future.
03:19There's still plenty of copper deep in the ground.
03:23Of course an underground mine is less conspicuous.
03:26We believe that this is the most sensible, profitable and sustainable way.
03:35When the mine starts operating underground again, it will no longer just be copper.
03:40The company has developed a chemical process that extracts even more from the rock, namely
03:45zinc, lead and silver.
03:48The company also is using the pilot plant to extract cobalt from the rock with the help
03:53of bacteria.
03:55Cobalt is a vital element for e-mobility.
03:58And something is also happening in the EU when it comes to refining raw materials.
04:03In order to make progress in battery production, raw materials such as lithium are crucial.
04:09But in order to obtain battery-grade materials, the raw material has to be chemically processed.
04:18A chemical company based in Frankfurt, Germany has been building up expertise in these refining
04:23steps for five years in order to understand each individual step precisely and later
04:30be able to control them.
04:32They're still putting the finishing touches on what could be the largest lithium refinery
04:36in Europe.
04:37Initially the plan was to produce 20,000 tons of lithium hydroxide per year.
04:43But since the price of lithium products has collapsed, investments are now difficult.
04:49The German state of Saxony-Anhalt is very cautious in putting money into lithium projects
04:56at this point.
04:59Because with the current price level, it's very hard to make an investment case, actually.
05:07But AMG received 5.5 million euros from the German state of Saxony-Anhalt for the plant
05:12there.
05:13And some European governments want to provide further funding for the development of their
05:18own raw materials infrastructure.
05:20The first contracts have already been signed with customers throughout Europe.
05:25And construction is also underway in northeastern Europe.
05:28The first plant for European production of what are called permanent magnets for EV motors
05:33is currently being built in Narwa, Estonia.
05:37Such magnets are indispensable for electric motors, wind turbines and other clean energy
05:43technologies that the EU is increasingly relying on.
05:47But here, too, there is a major challenge.
05:50So today, about 90% of all rare earth magnetics are manufactured in China.
05:55That's a real challenge.
05:56It's a real challenge for our global OEMs.
05:58It's a real challenge for our customers.
06:00It's a real challenge for all of the global economies because of the size and impact of
06:03the automotive industry.
06:05So once you acknowledge that you can't have that type of concentration in any one single
06:09jurisdiction, you have to think through the importance of how do you diversify.
06:16This diversification has already begun in the hundred-year-old mines of the former oil
06:21shell factory in Silmet, not far from the construction site in Narwa.
06:26Rare earth metals are processed here in a complex multi-stage process.
06:31These in turn are used for the production of highly sought-after permanent magnets in
06:35the electrical industry.
06:38In a few years' time, permanent magnets for 2.5 million cars are to be produced here in
06:44Narwa every year.
06:47Together with the production site for rare earths in Silmet, Europe will finally become
06:51less dependent on imports from China.
06:55So much for the plan.
06:57But what are the downsides?
06:58What price will local nature and EU residents pay for the expected turbo mining in the coming
07:04decades?
07:12We mustn't forget that the population also has to be involved.
07:16Currently, for example, there's the case of Serbia.
07:20The planned lithium project of the Australian mining company Rio Tinto has been in the news.
07:27This clearly shows what can happen when the population is ignored.
07:33The project was stopped around two years ago following pressure from protests.
07:39That was because the environmental impact was deemed to be serious.
07:47And just two years later, the project has now been restarted.
07:58What is certain, however, is that the EU not only wants to become less dependent on raw
08:03materials, it also wants to create new recycling loops.
08:10We will never be completely self-sufficient when it comes to the supply of raw minerals.
08:15But we want to be less dependent and we can achieve this by producing, processing and
08:20recycling more of our own.
08:24Whether the EU is capable of involving the local population, not harming ecological systems
08:30and establishing a circular, self-sufficient economy remains to be seen.
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