Extremadura recently jumped into the media by four potential rare earth deposits. Although this is a thesis at the moment without practical application, the community presents other equally valuable elements that have made the European union put their eyes on it.
A valuable source. The European Commission has launched A package of 47 strategic projects, among which seven are located in Spain and three in Extremadura. This initiative is aimed at ensuring the supply of essential raw materials for the European industry, such as Lithium, Nickel and Wolframio, and avoid dependence on countries like China. The EU support for extraction in these deposits will be 22,000 million euros.
The Extremadura mines. The deposits that will receive European funds are the mines of Aguablanca, Las Navas and La Parrilla. Besides. The companies at the head of these initiatives will be: Lithium Iberia, Río Narcea and P6 Metals. In particular, the Navas project will receive an investment of more than 500 million euros, According to ABCand it is one of the most ambitious farms on the continent that will have the support of electric vehicle belonging.
The lithium mine of Cáceres has been out of aid Due to the local dispute on the impact of extraction on the population. As they collect in Digital Extremaduraantiminas groups like Ama Cáceres and save the mountain of Cáceres have considered that it is a victory.
Two of them reopen. On the one hand, the Aguablanca mine, located south of the province of Badajoz, is the only Nickel site in all of Europe. As detailed by the countryit was closed for ten years due to the fall in nickel prices and copper. Its reopening is important for the European Union, given the growing demand for this metal for the battery industry.
On the other hand, the grill mine, in Cáceres, which houses the largest Wolframium site in Europe. Although his activity was suspended in 1986, he resumed in 2019 with the exploitation of dumps. Currently, the Wolframium appears on the list of EU critical raw materials.
Controversy. According to eldiario.esin the mining projects of Extremadura, entrepreneurs and financial would be involved such as Alejandro Ayala, known for its connection to Civitas and Atlético de Madrid, Enrique Martinavarro, related to the Horteofrusco sector and the venture capital, in addition to Miguel Rodríguez, owner of Festina. These entrepreneurs, together with the investment of funds such as Blackrock, would carry out the projects.
The distribution of the funds. The European Union (EU) seeks with these funds to ensure its critical raw materials for the development of new technologies and reduce its dependence with external suppliers, such as China, As reported by Euronews. In addition, the commission has warned in the statement that it cannot allow lithium and other elements to become a new source of vulnerability, similar to what happened with Russian gas.
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