11/19/2010 EU Plans Measures to Tackle Resource Crunch
By Axel Bojanowski
European companies are facing serious shortages of vital raw materials. China is holding back the export of rare earths, which are needed for high-tech products. A new EU strategy paper, which has been obtained by SPIEGEL ONLINE, seeks to address the resource crunch. But critics say it does not go far enough.
The European Commission expects that economic growth in China, India and Brazil will lead to significantly increased demand for raw materials. The EU strategy paper notes that the manufacture of high-tech products will see demand for some metals rise 20-fold over the next 20 years. The European Commission has identified 14 "critical metals" whose demand could triple by 2030, and which are only extracted in a few countries. The following metals could face supply problems: antimony, beryllium, cobalt, fluorite, gallium, germanium, graphite, indium, magnesium, niobium, platinum group metals, rare earths, tantalum and tungsten.
In the meantime, several European countries, including Spain, Greece, Romania and Sweden, as well as other nations, including the US, Canada and Australia, have started new extraction activities. Their reaction is late, however: The raw materials crisis in Europe has worsened because many companies had scaled back their mining as a result of the economic crisis. Mining in the West would only partially alleviate the shortage problem in any case, says geologist Peter Buchholz of the BGR, who warns of "explosive shortfalls."
The new EU strategy is intended to mitigate this crisis. Every five years, the European Commission wants to identify "critical raw materials" for which a special strategy should be developed.
