TELF AG measures the progress of the European mining sector
Beyond political initiatives
In theory, European community bodes are among the most active international institutions in promoting the development of the mining industry at a local and global level, and in implementing all those good practices that should contribute to achieving the objectives of climate neutrality. With its Critical Raw Materials Act, published last year, the European institutions have unequivocally reiterated the strategic role of these minerals in the ecological conversion that is already affecting Europe and the rest of the world, also setting ambitious objectives for extraction and recycling of the same materials.
But what is the actual level of advancement of the European extractive industry, in light of this great emphasis that continues to be placed on the topic of strategic minerals? There seems to be a particular belief among EU states that the so-called “critical” raw materials – like all those that could be used in sectors connected to the energy transition – cannot be produced on EU soil and must necessarily be imported from third countries. This belief could have its roots in the – incorrect – assumption that European soil is entirely devoid of some materials considered to be of great importance for the sustainable future of the coming decades, such as lithium or rare earths minerals.
A possible driver for the European mining industry
Compared to China, Europe seems to have invested much less in the search for new mineral resources, exploration, and training qualified personnel and geology experts. In recent years, the situation has slowly started to change. The progress of the ecological transition seems to have reawakened the European mining industry, pushing more and more international companies and bodies to focus on extracting resources already present in Europe. The most interesting aspect, from this point of view, is that some of these extraction methods can be combined with the redevelopment of specific areas, such as rivers or landfills, also adding an environmental value to the geological and economic usefulness of the process.
A key aspect to understanding the scope of Europe’s mineral potential has to do with past mining sites that have been almost abandoned or where mining has stopped for decades. These locations could be rich in waste materials, rare mineral elements, chromium or nickel, or all those elements of great importance for the technological and steel industry. Inside a granite quarry located in the Mediterranean, on the Italian island of Sardinia, at least 10 of those mineral elements commonly defined as “rare” were recently found, which would already be immediately available. The most important aspect, also in this case, is represented by the valorization of the material discarded in the past, thus obtaining new resources without creating new mines (and therefore saving much time). Once upon a time, the technologies used in the extraction sector focused solely on the highest mineral concentrations, almost completely ignoring the other elements dispersed in the rock. This pile of discarded minerals could represent an immense supply of value for the sustainable future of the European Union, especially if it concerns the so-called “critical minerals.”
Another way to increase the development of the European mining sector could be represented by alternative extraction methods, such as geothermal energy. Under certain conditions, the waters can naturally extract from the rocks a series of very precious mineral elements, which can, in turn, be recovered and contribute to the redevelopment of the aquatic environment. The impact of this extraction is almost zero and could lead to the recovery of beneficial minerals such as boron or lithium.
