Australian ASX-listed resources juniors plying their exploration skills in Europe have become the focus of investors. Why? Because the continent has just opened up exploration and development pathways to projects deemed critical to their domestic supply chains in order to cut its long-standing dependence on China.
An astonishing 47 projects dotted across Europe have been given strategic project status as part of the European Commission's Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA) - an accelerated push to secure domestic pipelines of materials from production through to manufacturing.
The commission said the projects require €22.5 billion in capital. It has coordinated financing pathways across both the public and private sectors, as well as cut red and green tape to accelerate permitting and development.
Find out more: Mission Critical: Too late for EU domestic supply push?
European Commission exec VP Stéphane Séjourné says the move is a landmark moment for European sovereignty as an industrial powerhouse.
“We must increase our own production, diversify our external supply, and make stockpiles.”
The Commission also confirmed that additional project rounds will follow, including consideration of applications from third countries in the new fiscal year.
Australian beneficiaries
ASX projects that have acquired "strategic projects" status include:
Germany: Vulcan Energy (ASX : VUL) - Lionheart geothermal lithium project combining extraction and conversion with net-zero emissions.
Sweden: Talga Group (ASX : TLG) - a Vittangi natural graphite operation supplying anode materials to EU battery makers.
Czech Republic: European Metals (ASX : EMH) - Cinovec project, Europe’s largest hard rock lithium resource
Czech Republic: Euro Manganese’s (ASX : EMN) - Chvaletice waste-to-value project to reprocess tailings and produce high-purity manganese.
All four mentioned have had share price boosts this week - especially European Metals, which more than doubled in value earlier in the week, yet still settled up 47% at time of writing.
Vulcan’s chief executive Cris Moreno says achieving strategic project status from the European Commission shows Lionheart's importance to European industry.
“The CRMA plays a pivotal role in driving change and highlighting the importance of sustainable raw material extraction in Europe,” Moreno said.
“With access to Europe's largest lithium resource, our project is strategically positioned to support the CRMA benchmarks and diversify the EU's lithium supply award from third countries.”
Vulcan shares were up almost 5% at close of trade Friday.
