Critical Raw Materials, Refining and Recycling
The material basis of chips, batteries, defence, space, grids and clean technologies
Europe’s critical raw materials problem is no longer a narrow question of mining access. It is a structural exposure in the industrial stages that turn minerals into usable strategic inputs for chips, batteries, defence systems, space assets, electricity grids and clean technologies. The decisive vulnerabilities increasingly sit between extraction and final equipment: processing, refining, separation, battery-grade conversion, magnet production, high-purity materials, certified metals, alloys, powders, precursors and recycling. This is where geopolitical concentration, industrial know-how, permitting risk, energy costs and capital allocation now intersect. For Europe, the strategic issue is therefore not only whether it can secure ore or concentrate, but whether it can control enough of the midstream capacity required to transform raw materials into deployable industrial capability.
This report examines that vulnerability through four connected lenses. It first explains why critical raw materials have become a core strategic-autonomy issue for Europe under the Critical Raw Materials Act. It then maps the bottlenecks material by material, covering lithium, cobalt, nickel, rare earths, graphite, gallium, germanium, tungsten, titanium, copper, platinum-group metals and permanent magnets. The third section assesses whether Europe’s policy response, including strategic projects, recycling rules, stockpiling, demand aggregation, offtake agreements and external partnerships, is aligned with the real points of dependency. The final section sets out the Defence Finance Monitor view: which companies, assets and industrial positions should be monitored because they sit at the junction between public strategic priority, private capital and Europe’s ability to rebuild critical material capacity.