Vulcan awarded EU Strategic Project status

Summary

• The awarding of Strategic Project status reflects the project’s alignment with the objectives of the CRMA, which came into effect in May 2024 and is designed to secure a sustainable supply chain for critical raw materials, including lithium, across Europe.
• The CRMA establishes clear targets for increasing domestic capacities within the strategic raw material supply chain, while improving access to funding, and ensuring adherence to the highest social and environmental standards. The CRMA designates strategic projects to increase European Union (EU) capacity to extract, process, and recycle strategic raw materials and diversify EU supplies from third countries.
• Strategic Project status will allow the company to request a meeting of the CRMA financing subgroup which is expected to streamline the project’s progression through a CRM Board subgroup to discuss and provide advice on how the financing of the project can be completed, taking into account private and public sources of funding. The status also ensures the possibility for regional and national authorities to make use of funding from the European Development Fund and Cohesion Fund to support the relevant project.
• The European Commission received 170 applications from companies seeking Strategic Project status, with assessment undertaken by external experts selected by the European Commission. Applications were assessed by at least four individual experts whose collective expertise covers technical, financial, and ESG-related aspects, as well as the United Nations Framework Classification for Resources.
• The company’s commitment to producing sustainable lithium is demonstrated through its advanced extraction and processing technologies, powered by geothermal renewable energy. This integrated approach from Europe, for Europe, formed the foundation of Vulcan’s Strategic Project status application.

Vulcan’s Managing Director and CEO, Cris Moreno, commented:

“Achieving Strategic Project status from the European Commission validates the importance of our integrated lithium and renewable energy project to European industry, and builds momentum for the delivery of Europe’s first fully domestic and sustainable lithium value chain.

“The CRMA plays a pivotal role in driving change and highlighting the importance of sustainable raw material extraction in Europe. With access to Europe’s largest lithium resource, our project is strategically positioned to support the CRMA benchmarks and diversify the EU’s lithium supply away from third countries.”

Read the article online at: https://www.globalminingreview.com/mining/27032025/vulcan-awarded-eu-strategic-project-status/