Without critical raw materials, there is no green transition

The EU has legislated for this, launching the Critical Raw Minerals Act (CRMA) which is creating transformational change in Europe to address security of supply of critical raw materials. The CRMA has set defined targets for extraction, processing and recycling to be implemented by 2030. This represents a huge opportunity for EGT to identify key assets, derisk these assets and sell or partner in the future.

The CRMA outlines the following guidelines:

Key critical minerals such as rare earth elements are required to deliver new materials and technologies related to the green energy transition. The growth across the sector, especially for EVs, wind and solar energy and battery storage, is metal-intensive.  With this background, demand for critical minerals is forecast to explode.

The International Energy Agency predicts that growth in demand for selected minerals for clean energy technologies between 2020-40, will see increases of 13x to 42x for lithium, 8x to 25x for graphite, 6x to 21x for cobalt, 7x to 19x for nickel, 3x to 8x for manganese, and 3x to 7x for rare earth elements .

Europe, in particular, is on a timer to deliver a sustainable, local supply of critical minerals to ensure that it does not suffer from rising geo-political tensions and demand constraints and achieve its ambitious 2050 Net Zero target.

Accordingly, EGT’s initial projects were strategically acquired to provide potential future supply options to the European battery market. Rare earth elements are used extensively across green energy applications from solar panels to wind turbines and EVs as well to high-tech appliances/communication devices and robotics, while graphite is used in multiple applications and importantly represents 50% by weight of the material of a lithium-ion battery.

“By 2040, the International Energy Agency estimates that the demand for nickel, cobalt, graphite and lithium will have increased by somewhere between 2,000 and 4,000 per cent.”

University of Cambridge

“Outside of China, geopolitical interest has seen some projects move into construction as a race to meet limited ex-China demand through sustainable, de-risked, non-Chinese supply takes centre stage for critical materials.”

Nils Backeberg, Project Blue