MINEX Europe’25 proposed discussion topics

Exploring innovative financing mechanisms, public-private partnerships, and measures to boost investment in sustainable mineral industries within Europe. 

Scaling Sustainable Solutions in the Metals and Mining Industry. Strategies required to meet Net Zero goals while ensuring operational growth and sustainability in a rapidly changing regulatory landscape. 

How can companies effectively engage with local communities impacted by mining operations? Exploring conflict resolution mechanisms, benefit-sharing models, and ways to ensure social responsibility. 

As critical minerals become increasingly vital for the green energy transition, the circularity is not just an environmental imperative but a crucial factor in future capital allocation decisions. There is the growing trend of “design for disassembly” in industries that rely heavily on minerals and how it can facilitate future recycling efforts. How can products and industrial processes be designed to ensure that the minerals used within them can be recovered and reused at the end of their life cycle? The success of these initiatives will depend on coordinated action from governments, industry players, and investors to close the significant investment gap in circular economy infrastructure. 

The European Union faces significant challenges in implementing its raw materials policy, particularly in balancing the need for critical raw materials with environmental protection and public acceptance. The concept of “invisible mining” is emerging as a potential solution to address these challenges through technological innovation leveraging advancements in robotics, miniaturisation, and AI to enable low-impact, low-visibility underground mining.  

Near zero waste approaches to sustainable mining process. New environment friendly technologies of the recovery of minerals from the tailings.  

Bringing back the mining financial and technologies back to the local communities. What are the key challenges in aligning local interests with the environmental and economic goals of mining companies? How can mining projects be structured to ensure that they provide long-term benefits to local communities, including job creation and infrastructure development? What lessons can be learned from successful case studies of local ownership or joint ventures between mining companies and local communities? 

Can geothermal, mine-tailings heat, or other mining-generated power increase European energy independence and competitiveness?  Case, Challenges and Considerations.  

The EU’s critical minerals joint purchasing platform is aimed at collectively buying orders to leverage better deals and prices from concentrated sources like China and Russia. This initiative is part of the broader Critical Raw Materials Act, which seeks to boost Europe’s self-sufficiency by increasing domestic production, processing, and recycling of critical minerals. The EU aims to extract 10% of its critical raw materials, process 40%, and recycle 15% of its annual consumption by 2030.  What are the implications of these moves for the critical minerals market, supply chain diversification, and the promotion of sustainable and responsible mining practices?  

Supply Chain Resilience. How can joint ventures help secure critical mineral supplies within Europe? EU battery initiative & critical minerals partnerships.  How can joint ventures promote resource efficiency and reduce environmental impact? Projects focusing on recycling and repurposing mining byproducts.  Pilot factories. Developing new generation of batteries to get ahead of the competition with China.  

The European Union (EU) is highly dependent on a small number of countries, notably China, for its supply of critical raw materials. This exposes the EU to geopolitical risks and external shocks, which could hinder the progress of the EU Green Deal Agenda. To diversify its supply chains, the EU is considering the establishment of a Critical Raw Materials Club, a forum for resource-hungry and resource-rich countries to collaborate in diversifying critical raw materials value chains. In a successful raw materials trade, club- countries would collaborate: resource-hungry countries would pay a fair price for raw materials and support resource-rich countries in developing downstream capacities, enabling them to retain a larger share of the raw materials value chain. 

Water access and its related energy, environmental and economic costs are one of the greatest challenges for society today. According to the 2030 Water Resources Group of the World Bank global water demand by 2030 is expected to exceed sustainable water supply.  To ensure sustainable development of the critical raw materials upstream and downstream companies need to invest in developing the next generation water-smart management systems for a circular economy and society.  

As Europe races to meet its green transition goals, the need for new copper and lithium mines has never been more urgent. However, the challenge is twofold: not only must the permitting process be accelerated, but there is also the pressing issue of securing investment. Mining companies are struggling to convince investors to back new projects, even as the demand for critical minerals intensifies. Previously the proponents of the giga-factories in Europe experienced the similar experience. What can miners and investors and miners can learn to move the Europe-focused mining investment needle in motion?  

Europe faces a growing demand for critical minerals essential for its green energy transition and technological advancement. However, current mining regulations are often perceived as a barrier to unlocking this potential, hindering investment and delaying project timelines. Successful implementation of the EU’s Critical Raw Materials Act requires a multifaceted approach, building on technological advances and encompassing policy harmonisation, socio-economic innovation and skills development. By adopting this comprehensive strategy, the EU can create a more sustainable and socially responsible mining industry, addressing the immediate need for critical raw materials while positioning itself as a global leader in responsible mining.  

Updating mining regulation to meet environmental, social, geopolitical and economic challenges. Land ownership. Indigenous ownership and human rights. Implementation of industry standards to mining operations. Finding solutions for polarised opinions to develop the mineral resources.  

While some European countries like Sweden and Estonia have processing facilities for certain critical raw materials, the overall capacity is still significantly lower compared to China. Production of metals is capital-intensive and failed investments in production facilities can lead to serious or catastrophic consequences for the company or investor. Back in 2014, the European Union has created a Pilot Plant Network for Extractive Metallurgy and Mineral Processing for up-scaling of metallurgical and mineral processes in Europe. In 2024 and 2025 the construction and the launch of the first pilot plants have been begun. These include  Keliber lithium project in Finland, LKAB demonstration plant for processing phosphorus and rare earth elements in Sweden, Zinnwald Lithium’s project in Germany,  Vulcan’s Lionheart integrated lithium and renewable energy project in Germany and France,  Neo Performance Materials Construction of sintered magnets facility in Estonia, Altilium’s integrated critical minerals recycling project in Bulgaria, Northern Lithium’s in-field demonstration plant in the UK, European Lithium’s Wolfsberg Lithium Project in Austria and many other.