Brussels, 22/06/2010 (Agence Europe) - In a report published on 17 June, the European Commission warns against the risk of supply shortages in the EU for 14 mineral raw materials critical for European industry, especially in the high-tech sector and for everyday consumer products such as mobile phones, thin layer photovoltaics, lithium-ion batteries, fibre optic cable, and synthetic fuels, etc.
Given the growing demand for raw materials driven by the growth of developing economies and new emerging technologies, some raw materials that are essential for European industry are beginning to be in short supply. The situation is such that a group of experts from the European Commission label a selection of 14 raw materials as “critical”, out of 41 minerals and metals analysed. In time, this situation could be a threat to the place of European industry in some sectors, especially the high-tech sector. The group of experts state the following 14 minerals are vitally important for the EU: antimony, beryllium, cobalt, fluorspar, gallium, germanium, graphite, indium, magnesium, niobium, platinum group metals or PGMs, rare earths and tungsten. Forecasts indicate that, for some critical raw materials, the level of demand in 2030 could be three times more than in 2006.
Emerging economies are the driving force behind the demand in critical raw materials. The supply of raw materials for the following areas is considered critical by Commission experts: - antimony for antimony tin oxide and micro capacitors; - cobalt for lithium-ion batteries and synthetic fuels; - gallium for thin layer photovoltaics, IC and WLED; - germanium for fibre optic cable and infrared optical technologies; - indium for displays and thin layer photovoltaics; - platinum (PGM) for fuel cells and catalysts; - palladium (PGM) for catalysts and seawater desalination; - niobium for micro capacitors and ferroalloys; - neodymium (rare earth) for permanent magnets and laser technology; - and tantalum for micro capacitors and medical technology.
Supply risks can be explained largely by the concentration of a large part of world production of raw materials being in the hands of a very limited number of countries, such as China (antimony, fluorspar, gallium, germanium, graphite, indium, magnesium, rare earth, tungsten), Russia (PGM), the Democratic Republic of Congo (cobalt, tantalum), and Brazil (niobium and tantalum). This production concentration, in many cases, is compounded by low substitutability and low recycling rates.
At the level of marketing and trade of raw materials, many emerging economies are based on industrial development strategies founded on trade, fiscal and investment instruments conceived so that they have exclusive rights to the exploitation of their resources.
In order to overcome the current problems, the group of experts suggests that the list of raw materials critical for the EU should be updated every five years and that the scope of assessment of their critical nature should be enlarged. It also recommends the adoption of strategic measures to improve access to primary resources and to increase recycling. It recommends that a number of critical raw materials should be substituted by alternatives, mainly by promoting R&D on alternative products. Finally, it recommends improving the overall material effectiveness of critical raw materials. “We need fair play on external markets, a good framework to foster sustainable raw materials supply from EU sources”, states European Commissioner for Industry Antonio Tajani. Recommendations made in the report by the group of experts will be set out in the communication on the strategy for access to raw materials, to be submitted this autumn. (E.H./transl.jl)