Spain makes €414mln investment in critical minerals
The country moves to expand access to critical minerals, rehabilitate mine sites and improve resource management.
The Spanish Government has announced plans to invest €414mln to expand access to key raw materials for energy transition and the digital economy.
Spain is the EU’s only producer of strontium and sepiolite, and the second-largest copper producer in the bloc. It also hosts notable resources of fluorite, feldspar and tungsten. Seven strategic projects, including lithium extraction in Galicia and Extremadura, are fast-tracked.
According to Spanish media, the raw materials management plan has a ‘comprehensive approach to raw materials management and is focused on identifying resource needs; recycling and circularity; raw material traceability; understanding and recovering existing resources; and ecological restoration.’
The funding will be apportioned with €32mln earmarked for using waste from the extractive industry as a source of minerals, and approximately €150mln for exploration with new technologies.
