“Belgian recycling champions at forefront of European raw materials battle”

The Critical Raw Materials Act, presented by the European Commission last month, focusses on making Europe less dependent of non-European countries in the search for raw materials which are critical in tomorrow’s economy. The plan proposes a mix of new mining on European soil, additional production capacity to extract usable metals from ores and more recycling.

By 2030, the European Commission wants 10% of some 40 critical and strategic raw materials to come from its own mining operations. 40% should be processed in Europe and 15% should come from recycling. Europe may only depend on a non-European country for up to 65% of a raw material.

As stated in the following article of De Tijd: “Belgische recyclagekampioenen in voorhoede van Europese grondstoffenstrijd“, members of Flanders Metals Valley as Aurubis, Umicore, Campine, Veolia, … are at the forefront of this challenge and are already actively involved in Europe’s quest to achieve these goals.

We also like to refer to an article in “De Morgen” where Peter-Tom Jones of the KU Leuven shares his view on mining in Europe: “Is Europa klaar voor nieuwe mijnbouw? Cruciaal dat we niet afhankelijk zijn van dubieuze regimes.”