Commission Decision (EU) 2026/2349 of 9 October 2026 recognising certain critical raw material projects as Strategic Projects under Regulation (EU) 2024/1252 of the European Parliament and of the Council (notified under document C(2026) 8051)

L_202602349EN.000101.fmx.xml Official Journal of the European Union EN L series 2026/2349 22.10.2026 COMMISSION DECISION (EU) 2026/2349 of 9 October 2026 recognising certain critical raw material projects as Strategic Projects under Regulation (EU) 2024/1252 of the European Parliament and of the Council (notified under document C(2026) 8051) (Only the English text is authentic) THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION, Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, Having regard to Regulation (EU) 2024/1252 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 April 2024 establishing a framework for ensuring a secure and sustainable supply of critical raw materials and amending Regulations (EU) No 168/2013, (EU) 2018/858, (EU) 2018/1724 and (EU) 2019/1020 ( 1 ) , and in particular Article 7(9) thereof, Whereas: (1) Pursuant to Article 1(2), point (a) of Regulation (EU) 2024/1252 and in view of securing the Union’s supply of critical raw materials, the Commission is to identify projects for the extraction, processing, recycling or substitution of strategic raw materials, with the aim of recognising such projects as Strategic Projects under the framework laid down in Article 7 of that Regulation. (2) In accordance with Article 7(3) of Regulation (EU) 2024/1252, the Commission launched on 23 May 2024 a call to apply for the recognition of a critical raw material project as a Strategic Project ( 2 ) , with a second cut-off date on 15 January 2026. (3) Following the submission of applications, the Commission informed the applicants on 13 February 2026 whether the information provided was considered complete in accordance with Article 7(4) of Regulation (EU) 2024/1252. (4) At the time of the second cut-off date on 15 January 2026, 101 applications were submitted from proposed projects located in Member States, 98 of which the Commission considered complete in accordance with Article 7(1) and (4) of Regulation (EU) 2024/1252. (5) In accordance with Article 7(5) of Regulation (EU) 2024/1252, the Commission informed the European Critical Raw Materials Board (‘the Board’) established by Article 35(1) of that Regulation of the applications the Commission considered complete. (6) Thereafter, the Commission transmitted the full applications, in accordance with Article 7(7) of Regulation (EU) 2024/1252, to Member States whose territory is concerned by the proposed project or projects. The Member States concerned had the opportunity to provide technical feedback and object to those proposed projects in accordance with Article 7(8) of that Regulation. (7) The Commission assessed those applications in accordance with the criteria specified in Article 6(1) of Regulation (EU) 2024/1252, with the support of external experts with professional expertise in the technical, financial, environmental, social and governance (ESG) dimensions of a project, as well as in the United Nations Framework Classification for Resources (UNFC) ( 3 ) . The expert report provided the basis for the Commission’s assessment. (8) In particular, the Commission assessed those applications in light of their contribution to the security of the Union’s supply of strategic raw materials, technical feasibility, sustainable implementation and cross-border benefits, pursuant to Article 6(1) of Regulation (EU) 2024/1252. The projects that fulfil all the criteria set out in that Article should therefore be recognised as Strategic Projects. (9) The Commission provided the Board with its assessment in accordance with Article 7(6), second subparagraph, of Regulation (EU) 2024/1252. None of the projects that fulfil all the criteria provided for in Article 6(1) of Regulation (EU) 2024/1252 listed in the Annex to this Decision received an objection from the Member States whose territory is concerned by the proposed projects in accordance with Article 7(8) of Regulation (EU) 2024/1252. (10) The Commission should therefore notify all applicants for the recognition of a project as Strategic Project. In particular, the Commission should notify all applicants of the result of its assessment and the reasoning thereof ensuring the protection of trade and business secrets and other sensitive, confidential and classified information, in accordance with Article 46 of Regulation (EU) 2024/1252. (11) The Commission is to provide this Decision to the Board and to the Member State or Member States whose territory is concerned by the project or projects, in accordance with Article 7(9), second subparagraph, of Regulation (EU) 2024/1252. (12) This Decision is in accordance with the opinion of the Board, HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION: Article 1 The projects listed in the Annex are recognised as Strategic Projects. Article 2 This Decision is addressed to the following undertakings: Project promoter Promoter address Project name 1 Mitsubishi Materials Europe B.V Honthorststraat 19, 1071 DC Amsterdam, Netherlands 3ECYCLE 2 9-Tech Via della Geologia 31, 30176, Venice, Italy 9PV-up: Upcycling raw materials from end-of-life photovoltaic panels. 3 Neptune Energy Innovations GmbH Ahrensburger Straße 1, DE-30659 Hannover, Germany ALE – Altmark Lithium Extraction 4 Alkeemia S.p.A. Via della Chimica, 5, 30175 Porto Marghera (VE), Italy Alkeemia PureGraph 5 ABENÓJAR TUNGSTEN S.A. Calle Ayala n° 10, 4° Izquierda, Madrid, Spain EU APT Tungsten Plant 6 MINERALIA – Minas, Geotecnia e Construções, Lda. R. Padre José G. Eigenmann, n. 90, 4715-199 Braga, Portugal BORRALHA MINING PROJECT 7 Rhodia Operations 9 rue des Cuirassiers 69003 Lyon, France BREES (Best Rare Earth Element Separation) 8 Leonardo S.p.A. Piazza Monte Grappa n. 4, 00195, Roma, Italy CRM4Defence – Byproducts and Recycling of CRM for Defence 9 Cobre San Rafael, S.L. Lugar La Mina, s/n, 15.822 Touro (A Coruña), Spain Cobre San Rafael Project 10 Umicore Broekstraat 31, 1000 Brussels, Belgium CoNiKo – Cobalt and Nickel refining in Kokkola 11 Comet Traitements Rivage de Boubier, 25 – 6200 Chatelet, Belgium CUPIDON 12 KGHM Polska Miedź S.A. ul. Marii Skłodowskiej-Curie 48, 59-300 Lubin, Poland Development and extraction of the Retków-Grodziszcze Deposit in KGHM Polska Miedź S.A. 13 ELECTRO MOBILITY MATERIALS EUROPE (EMME) 43 rue d’Armagnac, 33800 Bordeaux, France EMME 14 ECO LIFE STYLE S.R.L. Strada Plevnei no. 42, Dascalu Commune, Ilfov County, Romania Establishment of electric battery recycling capacity, Racari city, Dambovita county 15 ElvalHalcor Hellenic Copper and Aluminium industry S.A. 62nd km Athens – Lamia National Road, GR 320 11, Oinofyta, Viotia, Greece ETEOCLES – Developing a recycling hub for low quality copper scrap 16 cylib Production I GmbH Philipsstraße 8, 52068 Aachen, Germany EU BEST STRAT: Battery Economical Sustainable (Recycling-) Technology 17 AMG Lithium GmbH Industriepark Höchst Gebäude B852, 65926 Frankfurt, Germany European Lithium Refining and Recycling Hub Bitterfeld: from primary raw materials via recycling to critical solid state battery components. 18 CMK s.r.o. Sandricka 30, 96681 Žarnovica, Slovakia GaRefine – Gallium Recycling & Refining for Europe 19 FinnCobalt Oy Suutarinkatu 9 83500 Outokumpu, Finland Hautalampi Cobalt-Nickel-Copper Mine Project 20 HyProMag GmbH Unterm Wolfsberg 9/9a, 75177 Pforzheim, Germany HyProMag GmbH 21 Lithium de France 31 rue de la Redoute, 67500 Haguenau, France Lithium de France 22 Aubert & Duval SAS 12 rue d’Oradour-sur-Glane, 92130 Issy-les-Moulineaux, France LUERN 23 Myne Circular Metals B.V Lorentzkade 2, 3846BP Harderwijk, Netherlands Myne Circular Metals Harderwijk 24 NEOMAT PCAM Zac des Bassins, 124 rue ru Magasin General, 59140 Dunkerque, France NEOMAT-PCAM 25 Aluminium Rolling Division of ELVALHALCOR (Hellenic Copper and Aluminium Industry S.A) 61st km Athens – Lamia National Road, GR 320 11, Oinofyta, Viotia, Greece NEW ALUMINIUM RECYCLING HUB IN GREECE 26 Umicore Broekstraat 31, 1000 Brussel, Belgium OREON (Optimal REcycling Of Nickel) 27 Slovalco, a.s. Priemyselná 14, 965 48 Žiar nad Hronom, Slovakia Production of Primary Aluminium and Product Diversification in Slovalco, a.s. 28 Arctial Group Oy Fabianinkatu 9, 00130 Helsinki, Finland Project Arctial 29 Pure Batterry Technologies Ltd. Level 32, 10 Eagle Street, Brisbane, QLD,4000, Australia Pure Battery Technologies pCAM plant Europe 30 KGHM Polska Miedź S.A. ul. Marii Skłodowskiej-Curie 48, 59-300 Lubin, Poland Integrated Recycling Smelter 31 Refinis Pramones street 2, Lazdenai, Lithuania Refinis recycling plant (UAB Refinis) 32 Italrecycling & Investment srl Via della costituzione 19, 52048 Monte San Savino, Italy ReSuPLIR – Recovery and Supply of Platinum, Iridium and Ruthenium 33 OMCD TEK HUB S.p.A. via Megolo, 43 – 28877 Anzola d’Ossola (VB), Italy REW-ITA green HUB: Recovery of Wolfram: Italian Technology Advanced green Hub 34 Aurubis AG Hovestrasse 50, 20539, Hamburg, Germany Second TBRC Lünen 35 NPM Silmet OÜ Sillamäe linn, Kesk tn 2/1, 40231, IDA-Viru maakond, Estonia Silmet 2.0 36 Hellas Gold S.A. Leoforos Vasilissis Sofias 23A, Athens, Greece Skouries Project 37 Sokli Oy Soklinkairantie 12, 98840, Ruuvaoja, Finland Sokli 38 Back to Battery B.V. Mezenlaan 75, 2566ZE, Delft, Netherlands Enabling CRM production in Europe by recovering CRM from end-of-life batteries: A scalable battery black mass refining process that extracts critical raw materials from all types of Li-ion batteries in an environmental friendly way. 39 Suhanko Arctic Platinum Oy Ahjotie 7, 96320 Rovaniemi, Finland Suhanko project 40 Aurubis Bulgaria AD Industrial zone, 2070, Pirdop Bulgaria Tankhouse Expansion Pirdop 41 Isabellenhütte Heusler GmbH & Co. KG Eibacher Weg 3-5, 35683 Dillenburg, Germany Titanium alloys made in Europe 42 TDM Electronics Inc. Spokojna 1, 05-555, Rembertów, Poland Urban mining 43 CRITICAL. (owner of Circular Industries) Veembroederhof 281, 1019 HD Amsterdam, Netherlands Urban Mining Factory – Printed Circuit Boards 44 Verde Magnesium Industries SRL Virgil Plesoianu, 84, Ap. 1, Sector 1, Bucharest, Romania Verde Magnesium Industries 45 Gruvaktiebolaget Viscaria Viscariavägen 10, 981 99, Kiruna, Sweden Viscaria Copper Project 46 Zinnwald Lithium Plc 22A St James’s Square, London, SW1Y 4JH, United Kingdom Zinnwald Lithium Project Done at Brussels, 9 October 2026. For the Commission Stéphane SÉJOURNÉ Executive Vice-President ( 1 ) OJ L, 2024/1252, 3.5.2024, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1252/oj . ( 2 ) Call for applications: Strategic Projects under the Critical Raw Materials Act – Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs . ( 3 ) United Nations Framework Classification for Resources (UNFC) | UNECE . ANNEX LIST OF STRATEGIC PROJECTS (1) 3ECYCLE is an ongoing recycling project in the Netherlands. The project promoted by Mitsubishi Materials Europe B.V aims to contribute to the supply of copper. (2) 9PV-up: Upcycling raw materials from end-of-life photovoltaic panels. is an ongoing recycling project in Italy. The project promoted by 9-Tech aims to contribute to the supply of bauxite/alumina/aluminium, copper and silicon metal. (3) ALE – Altmark Lithium Extraction is an ongoing integrated project in Germany. The project promoted by Neptune Energy Innovations GmbH aims to contribute to the supply of lithium (battery grade). (4) Alkeemia PureGraph is an ongoing processing project in Italy. The project promoted by Alkeemia S.p.A. aims to contribute to the supply of graphite (battery grade). (5) EU APT Tungsten Plant is an ongoing processing project in Spain. The project promoted by ABENÓJAR TUNGSTEN S.A. aims to contribute to the supply of tungsten. (6) BORRALHA MINING PROJECT is an ongoing extraction project in Portugal. The project promoted by MINERALIA – Minas, Geotecnia e Construções, Lda. aims to contribute to the supply of tungsten. (7) BREES (Best Rare Earth Element Separation) is an ongoing recycling project in France. The project promoted by Rhodia Operations aims to contribute to the supply of rare earth elements for magnets. (8) CRM4Defence – Byproducts and Recycling of CRM for Defence is an ongoing recycling project in Italy, Poland, United Kingdom and France. The project promoted by Leonardo S.p.A. aims to contribute to the supply of bauxite/alumina/aluminium, magnesium and titanium-metal. (9) Cobre San Rafael Project is an ongoing extraction project in Spain. The project promoted by Cobre San Rafael, S.L. aims to contribute to the supply of copper. (10) CoNiKo – Cobalt and Nickel refining in Kokkola is an ongoing processing project in Finland. The project promoted by Umicore aims to contribute to the supply of cobalt and nickel (battery grade). (11) CUPIDON is an ongoing recycling project in Belgium. The project promoted by Comet Traitements aims to contribute to the supply of copper. (12) Development and extraction of the Retków-Grodziszcze Deposit in KGHM Polska Miedź S.A. is an ongoing extraction project in Poland. The project promoted by KGHM Polska Miedź S.A. aims to contribute to the supply of copper. (13) EMME is an ongoing integrated project in France. The project promoted by ELECTRO MOBILITY MATERIALS EUROPE (EMME) aims to contribute to the supply of cobalt and nickel (battery grade). (14) Establishment of electric battery recycling capacity, Racari city, Dambovita county is an ongoing recycling project in Romania. The project promoted by ECO LIFE STYLE S.R.L. aims to contribute to the supply of cobalt, lithium (battery grade), manganese (battery grade), graphite (battery grade) and nickel (battery grade). (15) ETEOCLES – Developing a recycling hub for low quality copper scrap is an ongoing recycling project in Greece. The project promoted by ElvalHalcor Hellenic Copper and Aluminium industry S.A. aims to contribute to the supply of copper. (16) EU BEST STRAT: Battery Economical Sustainable (Recycling-) Technology is an ongoing recycling project in Germany. The project promoted by cylib Production I GmbH aims to contribute to the supply of bauxite/alumina/aluminium, copper, cobalt, lithium (battery grade), manganese (battery grade), graphite (battery grade) and nickel (battery grade). (17) European Lithium Refining and Recycling Hub Bitterfeld: from primary raw materials via recycling to critical solid state battery components is an ongoing integrated project in Germany. The project promoted by AMG Lithium GmbH aims to contribute to the supply of lithium (battery grade). (18) GaRefine – Gallium Recycling & Refining for Europe is an ongoing recycling project in Slovakia. The project promoted by CMK s.r.o. aims to contribute to the supply of gallium. (19) Hautalampi Cobalt-Nickel-Copper Mine Project is an ongoing extraction project in Finland. The project promoted by FinnCobalt Oy aims to contribute to the supply of copper, cobalt and nickel (battery grade). (20) HyProMag GmbH is an ongoing recycling project in Germany. The project promoted by HyProMag GmbH aims to contribute to the supply of rare earth elements for magnets. (21) Lithium de France is an ongoing integrated project in France. The project promoted by Lithium de France aims to contribute to the supply of lithium (battery grade). (22) LUERN is an ongoing processing project in France. The project promoted by Aubert & Duval SAS aims to contribute to the supply of titanium-metal. (23) Myne Circular Metals Harderwijk is an ongoing recycling project in Netherlands. The project promoted by Myne Circular Metals B.V aims to contribute to the supply of bauxite/alumina/aluminium and copper. (24) NEOMAT-PCAM is an ongoing processing project in France. The project promoted by NEOMAT PCAM aims to contribute to the supply of cobalt, manganese (battery grade) and nickel (battery grade). (25) NEW ALUMINIUM RECYCLING HUB IN GREECE is an ongoing recycling project in Greece. The project promoted by Aluminium Rolling Division of ELVALHALCOR (Hellenic Copper and Aluminium Industry S.A) aims to contribute to the supply of bauxite/alumina/aluminium. (26) OREON (Optimal REcycling Of Nickel) is an ongoing processing project in Belgium. The project promoted by Umicore aims to contribute to the supply of copper, cobalt, nickel (battery grade) and platinum group metals. (27) Production of Primary Aluminium and Product Diversification in Slovalco, a.s. is an ongoing processing project in Slovakia. The project promoted by Slovalco, a.s. aims to contribute to the supply of bauxite/alumina/aluminium. (28) Project Arctial is an ongoing processing project in Finland. The project promoted by Arctial Group Oy aims to contribute to the supply of bauxite/alumina/aluminium. (29) Pure Battery Technologies pCAM plant Europe is an ongoing integrated project in Germany. The project promoted by Pure Batterry Technologies Ltd. aims to contribute to the supply of cobalt, manganese (battery grade) and nickel (battery grade). (30) Integrated Recycling Smelter is an ongoing recycling project in Poland. The project promoted by KGHM Polska Miedź S.A. aims to contribute to the supply of copper and nickel (battery grade). (31) Refinis is an ongoing recycling project in Lithuania. The project promoted by Refinis recycling plant (UAB Refinis) aims to contribute to the supply of platinum group metals. (32) ReSuPLIR – Recovery and Supply of Platinum, Iridium and Ruthenium is an ongoing integrated project in Italy. The project promoted by Italrecycling & Investment srl aims to contribute to the supply of platinum group metals. (33) REW-ITA green HUB: Recovery of Wolfram: Italian Technology Advanced green Hub is an ongoing recycling project in Italy. The project promoted by OMCD TEK HUB S.p.A. aims to contribute to the supply of copper, cobalt and tungsten. (34) Second TBRC Lünen is an ongoing recycling project in Germany. The project promoted by Aurubis AG aims to contribute to the supply of copper. (35) Silmet 2.0 is an ongoing processing project in Estonia. The project promoted by NPM Silmet OÜ aims to contribute to the supply of rare earth elements for magnets. (36) Skouries Project is an ongoing extraction project in Greece. The project promoted by Hellas Gold S.A. aims to contribute to the supply of copper. (37) Sokli is an ongoing extraction project in Finland. The project promoted by Sokli Oy aims to contribute to the supply of rare earth elements for magnets. (38) Enabling CRM production in Europe by recovering CRM from end-of-life batteries: A scalable battery black mass refining process that extracts critical raw materials from all types of Li-ion batteries in an environmental friendly way. is an ongoing recycling project in Netherlands. The project promoted by Back to Battery B.V. aims to contribute to the supply of cobalt, lithium (battery grade), nickel (battery grade), manganese (battery grade) and graphite (battery grade). (39) Suhanko project is an ongoing extraction project in Finland. The project promoted by Suhanko Arctic Platinum Oy aims to contribute to the supply of copper, nickel (battery grade) and platinum group metals. (40) Tankhouse Expansion Pirdop is an ongoing processing project in Bulgaria. The project promoted by Aurubis Bulgaria AD aims to contribute to the supply of copper. (41) Titanium alloys made in Europe is an ongoing integrated project in Germany. The project promoted by Isabellenhütte Heusler GmbH & Co. KG aims to contribute to the supply of titanium-metal. (42) Urban mining is an ongoing recycling project in Poland. The project promoted by TDM Electronics Inc. aims to contribute to the supply of copper, germanium, bauxite/alumina/aluminium and platinum group metals. (43) Urban Mining Factory – Printed Circuit Boards is an ongoing recycling project in Netherlands. The project promoted by CRITICAL. (owner of Circular Industries) aims to contribute to the supply of bauxite/alumina/aluminium, copper and nickel (battery grade). (44) Verde Magnesium Industries is an ongoing processing project in Romania. The project promoted by Verde Magnesium Industries SRL aims to contribute to the supply of magnesium. (45) Viscaria Copper Project is an ongoing extraction project in Sweden. The project promoted by Gruvaktiebolaget Viscaria aims to contribute to the supply of copper. (46) Zinnwald Lithium Project is an ongoing integrated project in Germany. The project promoted by Zinnwald Lithium Plc aims to contribute to the supply of lithium (battery grade). ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/dec/2026/2349/oj ISSN 1977-0677 (electronic edition)

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