On 9 October 2026 the European Commission said it had “selected 46 new Strategic Projects across 16 Member States” under the Critical Raw Materials Act. This is a recent item, not breaking today [1].
Confirmed: the Commission’s own press release and Q&A say this.
What the Act and the label mean
The Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA) is an EU law to secure Europe’s supply of minerals for batteries, magnets and defence [1]. A “strategic project” is a mining, processing or recycling project judged to help diversify supply away from dominant suppliers, “often China” [2]. The label brings “streamlined permitting” and “support in accessing financing” [2].
The 2030 benchmarks: EU capacity should meet at least 10% of annual consumption through extraction, 40% through processing and 25% through recycling [1][2].
What was selected
The 46 came from “102 applications”. “Eight are on extraction, 11 on processing, and 19 are recycling projects”, plus “eight integrated projects”. That is 8 + 11 + 19 + 8 = 46. They “cover 15 of the 17 strategic raw materials” [1].
By material: seven lithium, 12 nickel, 10 cobalt, five manganese, four graphite, two magnesium, three tungsten and four rare earth projects [1]. Those add up to 47, so some projects must cover more than one material.
Executive Vice-President Stéphane Séjourné said: “Our approach is simple: reduce dependency, increase production in Europe” [1].
What the Commission says they could add
Together with the 47 EU projects from March 2025 and 13 non-EU projects from June 2025, the Commission says the 46 “could fully meet the extraction benchmarks for lithium, nickel, rare earth elements, magnesium and tungsten”, and “could also cover 89% of the processing benchmark for cobalt and 57% and 51% for tungsten and magnesium respectively” [1]. The EU now has 93 strategic projects [2]. The 46 are “expected to require approximately €21.1 billion in capital investment” [2], from public and private sources.
Status is not money
“Strategic project status does not automatically mean that a project receives EU funding,” the Q&A says [2]. Of the 2025 projects, 25 have completed environmental assessments and 17 have construction permits. More than €2 billion has been mobilised since the RESourceEU plan [1]. A new call is planned “towards the end of 2026” [1].
Outside reporting
Reuters (via Mining Weekly) named Zinnwald Lithium, Skouries and Viscaria copper as notable projects, and said progress on the 2025 projects “has been slow” [3]. EUobserver wrote that “its own figures show little EU money has reached similar schemes”. Only its opening is free, so TSN cannot check them [4].
Sources
- European Commission, “Commission selects 46 new Strategic Projects to bolster the EU’s supply of critical raw materials”, press release IP/26/2113, 9 October 2026. https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_26_2113
- European Commission, “Questions and answers on the Critical Raw Materials strategic projects”, QANDA/26/2114, 9 October 2026. https://europa.eu/newsroom/ecpc-failover/pdf/qanda-26-2114_en.pdf
- Reuters, “European Commission picks 46 new strategic critical mineral projects”, via Mining Weekly, 9 October 2026. https://www.miningweekly.com/article/european-commission-picks-46-new-strategic-critical-mineral-projects-2026-10-09
- Wester van Gaal, “EU puts 46 more mines and recycling plants on ‘strategic’ list, without closing funding gap”, EUobserver, 9 October 2026 (opening paragraphs only; paywalled). https://euobserver.com/242079/eu-puts-46-more-mines-and-recycling-plants-on-strategic-list-without-closing-funding-gap/
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