EU launches operations of critical minerals procurement platform

The European Union on Monday launched the critical minerals section of its energy and materials procurement platform, which aims to give more power to regional buyers and cut dependence on dominant producer China by aggregating their purchases.

The platform is part of the bloc’s RESourceEU strategy, announced in December to develop its supply chains for rare earths and other strategic minerals needed for the energy transition and defence applications. China controls up to 90% of output in that sector.

Opened for submissions

The EU’s Energy and Raw Materials Platform opened to submissions from buyers on Monday in the first phase of a multi-month process, an EU spokesperson told Reuters.

The platform connects buyers with suppliers, but leaves the two sides to finalize trades.

The first round of connections between buyers and sellers will start on April 13, the spokesperson said, and will focus on “immediately and soon-to-be-available rare earths, battery and defence raw materials”. The results will be announced in September.

Last year, the EU chose PriceWaterhouseCoopers and a Slovak software company to develop its 9 million euro platform, which has separate mechanisms for strategic raw materials, hydrogen, and energy products such as natural gas and biomethane.

The platform kicked off with hydrogen, which started submissions in November and announced results on April 1, with 273 match-ups.

The REsourceEU plan aims to accelerate the bloc’s Critical Raw Materials Act, passed in 2023. The EU wants to speed up the development of its own supply chains so as not to rely on any single country for more than 65% of its demand.

Under the CRMA, the bloc has set ambitious 2030 targets for domestic production of critical minerals required for its green transition – 10% of annual needs mined, 25% recycled and 40% processed domestically by the end of the decade.

(By Eric Onstad; Editing by Jan Harvey)