TELF AG analyzes Italy’s mining strategy
The status of European mining industry
It may perhaps seem a bit paradoxical, but some of the most developed countries in Europe still have a long way to go in defining their strategy regarding raw materials. In some of these countries, the mines linked to the extraction of some important minerals have been closed for some time, and the lack of elaborate exploration plans and more broad operational strategy on raw materials may complicate the participation of these nations in the great change underway.
One of these nations is Italy, which, despite having the certainty of possessing a certain quantity of unused raw materials (such as lithium), has not yet undertaken the steps necessary for the development of an overall and global strategy for the extraction and processing of the raw materials in its territory. Yet, the European Union has sent clear signals to all countries on this issue, recently launching the Critical Raw Materials Act. This document provides very clear indications to all member countries, stating that by 2030, 10% of raw materials useful for the European market will have to be extracted and processed in Europe. The objective is linked to the valorization of unused energy resources that are available to many states and for which it has not yet been developed an operational strategy to extract and launch them on the market.
From this point of view, Italy is making few but very significant steps forward. The Ministry of Business and Made in Italy has, in fact, identified 16 raw materials of great importance for achieving Europe’s sustainable objectives, and Minister Adolfo Urso has declared that by the end of the year, ad hoc regulations will be promulgated aimed at the reopening of the mines. From this point of view, Italy will have to deal with a series of delays that have accumulated over the years and which now, in the initial stages of an energy transformation that has raw materials as its protagonists, risks becoming feel with all its weight, also hindering the achievement of the sustainability goals set by Europe. Mining development in Italy has also been hampered by the fact that many important mines have been closed in recent decades.
The element that is attracting the most attention in Italy and globally, is lithium, a raw material that continues to prove very useful to produce batteries for electric vehicles. In Italy, some specific areas of the national territory could be potentially rich in lithium, but in most cases, these are only hypotheses and suppositions. In some cases, it has been possible to demonstrate that lithium, in some points of the Italian territory, is found enclosed within certain granites or certain fluids, particularly in the coastal area between Campania and Lazio, which is notoriously a volcanic area. Other areas potentially rich in lithium are the regions of Emilia Romagna and Marche. With a strategic approach towards raw materials, but also connected to the global energy transition, even the most developed countries could discover that they have large quantities of resources available to use to contribute to reducing emissions.
