Critical Raw Materials Act

Why that soon? Is it something that's going to take long or how long is that process going to take?

So in the first instance, if we are classified as a strategic project under the EU Critical Raw Materials Act, then in theory it's supposed to take 27 months.

But look, I think that our view on it is that the quicker you can commence the permitting process, the quicker you'll ultimately be able to realise the value in the mine.

How long would that take or what are you envisioning in terms of the process here?

I would also totally admit that.

But maybe the European Union has tried to address some of these problems, and they issued the Critical Raw Materials Act in 2023, which is closely linked to the process of territorial transformations and another area that you have also concentrated on.

So, of course, it's understandable that Critical Raw Materials Act is to secure a reliable supply chain and to expand local mineral extraction.

But on the other side of the coin, we are seeing this significant territorial transformations in this context.

So what kind of territorial transformations are we currently observing and what developments do you expect to see in the future within this framework, of course, in the EU?

On industrial competitiveness, the Council and Parliament reached a provisional agreement to raise the EU ETS market stability reserve threshold from 400 million to 700 million allowances, creating a larger buffer against future carbon price volatility and potentially easing cost uncertainty for energy intensive industry.

Parliament has also advanced changes to the Critical Raw Materials Act, backing a European Centre to coordinate joint purchasing, strategic stocks and supply chain monitoring.

Taken together, the direction is becoming clearer.

The EU is moving simultaneously on single market integration, regulatory simplification, energy cost containment, and strategic supply chains.

Other countries have responded by seeking additional routes through the industrial landscape.

The European Union's Critical Raw Materials Act sets goals for more domestic extraction, processing, and recycling, while aiming to reduce dependence on any single outside country.

These are goals, not a claim that the work is complete.

In the United States, public financing has supported rare earth processing including a loan for expanding separation at Mountain Pass in California.

So we need to be going after that.

And I think from a European perspective with the Critical Raw Materials Act, it's not zinc that's critical.

It's not-

Yeah

And this will definitely benefit European producers and vendors to the defense sector.

And this includes the Critical Raw Materials Act, which covers things like graphite and titanium, as well as rare earth minerals.

And there is the recently proposed upgrade to the European Chips Act, which aims to encourage EU production of semiconductor chips to boost Europe's sovereignty and basic competitiveness in that technology.

Many thanks, Christian.

So we're sort of sitting back.

We've got three of the 17, we've got five of the 34, you know, and that's under that EU, you know, Critical Raw Materials Act, um, with those aspirations.

Um, under that act, a strategic project also has a 27-month permitting timeline.

So that, that gives us encouragement with respect to the permitting timeline.

That's, that's really good.

So with a resource like this that seems to align really well with the EU and their initiatives, are they paying close attention to what you're doing, and are they offering any sort of assistance to help you accelerate your efforts?

So the big assistance that the EU's talking about is that, you know, EU Critical Raw Materials Act and the 27-month permitting timeline.

The European Investment Bank is talking about project finance support.