EUROPEAN COMMISSION
MEMO
Brussels, 26 September 2013
Priority actions to reduce the EU's dependency on raw
materials
Yesterday the High Level Steering Group of the European Innovation Partnership
on Raw Materials released a Strategic Implementation Plan, proposing how its
stakeholders - the Commission, EU countries, industry, research groups and
NGOs - can act to ensure a sustainable supply of raw materials to the European
economy and make Europe a world leader in raw materials exploration,
extraction, processing, recycling and substitution by 2020. A selection of priority
actions proposed are detailed in this memo. For the full overview, see the
working document published yesterday.
European Innovation Partnership (EIP) on raw materials covers non-energy, nonagricultural raw materials - metals and minerals, as well as other industrial raw materials
such as natural rubber, paper and wood. Its key objectives are:
 Reduction of import dependency by improving supply conditions from EU
sources, providing resource efficiency and alternatives in supply.
 Bringing Europe to the forefront in raw materials sectors and mitigating their
negative environmental and social impacts.
The Strategic Implementation Plan (SIP) details actions necessary to achieve the
EIP's objectives: research, raw materials knowledge, exchange of best practices, revision
of selected legislations, licensing steps, standardisation, and policy dialogues. It targets
innovation in both technology-focused and non-technology policy areas, as well
as international cooperation.
Raw materials research and innovation coordination
The objective is to strengthen coordination of the research initiatives (such as Horizon
2020 and research infrastructures in order to maximise impacts of the research actions
carried out by the EU, Member States, industry and research communities.
The EU, Member States, industry and research community are invited to improve
coordination of related industrial initiatives, collaboration between raw materials
community and society and establishing EU-wide research and innovation platforms.
More effective exploration
The objective is to develop new cost-effective exploration technologies providing
high quality data including high resolution 3D geo-data down to 150-4000 meters depth,
and their interpretation through geo-models in order to facilitate both finding new
mineral deposits on the continent and in the sea-bed, as well as fostering industry
investment to mining through actions, such as developing:
MEMO/13/819
 new highly efficient and cost-effective exploration technologies, such as drilling
techniques, integrated drilling and analytical technologies, down-hole and crosshole sensing, 3D geophysical.
 new geo-models of mineral deposits interpreting in a useful form the data obtained
from integrated geological, geophysical, geochemical and other methods.
Innovative extraction of raw materials
The objective is to enable extraction of minerals and extraction of wood in a socially
acceptable, environmentally responsible and economically viable way by
developing new technological solutions leading to social acceptance of extraction, which
would push Europe to the forefront in extraction technologies, such as:
 Developing highly automated mining operations to reach deeper seated deposits
and to avoid exposure of workers underground.
 Developing alternative techniques to extract the ores, such as “in-situ”
leaching, solution mining or applying biotechnologies substantially reducing
generation of mining waste and large tailings.
Processing and refining of raw materials
The objective is to develop new holistic processing concepts with higher technical,
economic, energy and environmental performance and flexibility, versatility and
modularity for processing of different raw materials from low grade and/or complex
feeds, such as developing:
 New flexible processing solutions, to provide better separation and higher
recovery rates.
 A holistic design of an integrated metallurgical system for metals processing.
 Solutions with a full recovery of the material from the feed in a paper mill.
 Solutions for recovery of technology metals from complex end-of-life products
and of multi-material packaging to increase the recycling rate.
Substitution of raw materials
Actions include the substitution of heavy rare earth elements (REE) in magnets; and the
substitution of Critical raw materials (CRM) in rechargeable batteries, in catalysts, and
in photovoltaic materials such as solar cells, which will improve the competitiveness of
European industry (notably in energy, chemical and automotive industries).
Electronic devices: Actions include the substitution of indium in transparent
conductive layers: touch screens, flexible electronics, solar energy and OLED lighting
(organic light-emitting diode used to create digital displays in TV screens, PC monitors,
portable systems such as mobile phones, handheld games consoles and PDAs.
Materials under extreme conditions: Substitution of refractive metals, an issue which
has been proven very difficult without loss of performance. Actions include the substitution
of CRM in heat resistant super alloys and in hard materials.
Materials in large quantities: substitution of natural rubber in tyres and of CRM in
super alloys and steels alloyed with scarce elements.
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Improving the EU's raw materials framework: facilitating raw
materials supply to the EU
The Non-technology section's objective is to facilitate raw materials supply to the EU
economy and society, reducing import dependency and pushing Europe to the forefront in
the raw materials sectors, while in parallel increasing resource efficiency and reducing
negative environmental impacts. This will be achieved by: improving framework conditions
for primary and secondary raw materials, as well as increasing the knowledge and
information infrastructure base, improving education and skills, and enhanced cooperation
along value chains for optimised raw materials flows.
Minerals Policy Framework and access to mineral potential
Objective is to foster access to known and still undiscovered mineral deposits, improve the
condition for sustainable access. Actions could include:
1. Benchmarking national minerals policies, a fitness check to assess the
cumulative effect of EU legislation on the non-energy extractive industries,
developing a "permitting toolbox" as an outcome of best practice exercise covering
all types of permitting authorities.
2. Guidance for time limits in permitting procedures and ensuring better
communication of the Commission’s guidance on Natura 2000 and non-energy
extractive industries, developing guidelines with EU reporting standards and
schemes based on internationally accepted conventions.
3.
Introducing and applying the concept of mineral deposit of public importance,
which, once defined, will be safeguarded with various levels of protection for
potential future extraction.
Improving the EU's waste management framework
The objective is to minimise critical raw materials needed in products, support product
life extension and maximise the amount of materials recycled through new design
strategies. It will help define a coherent resource-efficient product policy framework,
thereby contributing to a sustainable supply of raw materials through resource
efficiency and recycling.
The idea is to address product design and its impact on the use of raw materials and
their recovery, through a range of regulatory and non-regulatory/voluntary measures.
Actions include those involving:
 Eco-design Directive: increasing the emphasis on raw materials and material
efficiency, without loss of functionality, in the directive's implementation.
 EU-wide research on product life extension strategies and development of
sustainable circular business models. For instance, this will require designers
to obtain in depth knowledge of how the product and its parts wear and tear, and
of how to decide which parts should last, and which should be replaced.
 Increase knowledge of the presence of CRM in complex products' waste flows,
so as to improve recycling rates.
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Optimised waste flows to increase recycling and recovery
The objective is to boost the quality and quantity of collected waste/end-of-life
products and to improve the life-cycle management of products ensuring their high
quality treatment and recycling. This would in turn help further develop recycling
activities, promote increased access to secondary raw materials and reduce the EU
dependency on imports of many of these metals, including critical metals, in the EU,
thereby contributing to increasing the share of industry in Europe’s GDP. Actions include:
 Qualitative targets in EU legislation that are pragmatic would trigger the
development of technology in the field of collection, pre-treatment and recycling to
cope with more complex products. This action could involve developing more
relevant and category-specific targets and/or setting criteria for such targets
for certain waste streams (such as batteries, WEEE, end-of-life vehicles, wood) and
prioritizing certain materials including materials which may have high
environmental impacts (such as aluminium), and introducing the notion of lifecycle environmental impacts (rather than focusing on total weight). To this end,
the European standardisation process could be further used.
 Landfill ban for recyclable waste and incineration ban for certain waste:
Paper and wood as well as other recyclable materials such as glass, metals, etc.
should be considered for an EU list of waste banned from landfill.
 Optimised material recovery: Improving the quality of recycled material by
developing standards for e-waste recycling and encouraging the transition
from waste to secondary raw materialsby developing a set of normative
requirements with respect to the recovery of precious metals.
 Actions should include the creation of European standards for treatment of
electric and electronic equipment (WEEE), the monitoring of the impact of
existing end-of-waste criteria on EU recycling markets 8for iron and steel scrap)
and the adoption of additional end-of-waste criteria (tyres) where appropriate.
Raw materials knowledge base
The EU Raw Materials Knowledge Base (EURMKB) will provide EU level data and
information on raw materials from different sources in a harmonized and standardized
way. This will encourage activities in the raw materials sector, not only regarding
exploration, extraction, processing/refining and recycling, but also trade, development,
skills and education - consequently increasing supply as well as strengthening Europe’s
position in this sector. The action on knowledge base is the foundation for the technology
and non-technology priority areas as well as a base for the international cooperation pillar.
International cooperation
As European industry's is dependent on the international market to secure an important
part of its raw material inputs, international co-operation is an important part of the EIP
on Raw Materials. This section considers how best to balance the benefits of
international trade and international dialogues with the need to support other
pillars of the EIP. This can be achieved by encouraging greater recovery and production
of raw materials from within Europe, international co-operation on improving access to
raw materials globally, substitution, resource efficiency and knowledge/best-practice
sharing.
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Global governance and international dialogues
This area will specify two types of materials: (1) Critical Raw Materials (CRM) and (2)
natural rubber. Economic fairness is extremely important to avoid competition
distortions and different regulatory frameworks being contradictory to the principles of
undistorted trade.
Actions aim to ensure the fair and unrestricted access to raw materials worldwide,
by improving supply conditions for EU companies, ensuring a level playing field of all
actors present in the trade of raw material commodities.
Health, safety and the environment: Action should contribute to improving the health,
safety and environmental performance of mining activities worldwide and contribute to the
development of sustainable mining in partner countries. In parallel, they should improve
the framework conditions for raw materials supply thereby tackling the issue of social
acceptance of mining. Better transparency in the sector of conflict minerals is also desired.
Two action areas are proposed:
 International cooperation on the regulatory environment for raw materials
supply and on standards for secondary raw materials
 Improvement of health, safety and environmental performance in mining and
recycling.
Actions should also improve education, skills and knowledge in the sector in Europe,
in Africa and in international organisations within the UN system. Proposed actions:
 increase European competence and expertise levels in the mining sector by
cooperation with the leading educational institutions in non-EU countries.
 establish the African Mineral Development Centre (AMDC) or similar bodies.
 dialogue on skills and knowledge with Latin American countries.
 a functioning knowledge base system on material flows with cooperation of
international partners, to better understand shortages and adapt to market
developments.
Investment activities
The objective is to support the European mining, research and geological companies in
exploration of mining projects abroad, to promote mining investment in Europe, and to
foster cooperation with some countries on promoting the positive impacts of mining.
Actions should promote:
 European companies activity in non EU countries
 inward investment into European mining
 the positive impacts of mining, including exchange of best practices in social
acceptance, in co-operation with Australia, US, Canada, South Africa and Chile.
More information
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