Euro Manganese Inc. (ASX: EMN) has submitted an application to designate the Chvaletice Manganese Project in the Czech Republic as a Strategic Project under the European Union’s Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA).
The CRMA, which took effect in May 2024, is designed to sustainably ensure the availability of raw materials that are essential and strategic for Europe's economy and green transition. The CRMA lists more than 30 raw materials and defines high-purity manganese (battery grade) as a strategic raw material, and manganese as a critical raw material. The European Commission is expected to announce the first list of Strategic Projects in December 2024.
The benefits of gaining Strategic Project status include potential access to financing from numerous private and public sources such as national banks, EU institutions, regional and national funding authorities, and private financial institutions. Additionally, Strategic Project status ensures that permitting processes proceed according to the deadlines set in the CRMA, decreasing the scheduling risk related to permitting.
“Submitting our application for Strategic Project status under the CRMA for the Chvaletice Project is a significant milestone for Euro Manganese,” Dr. Matthew James, President and CEO of Euro Manganese, said.
“Achieving Strategic Project designation would strengthen our role in the EU’s raw materials value chain, enable access to government-backed funding, facilitate collaboration with EU institutions, and accelerate permitting. Today’s announcement underscores our commitment to becoming the only integrated European producer of high-purity manganese for the battery supply chain.”
The Chvaletice Project is a unique waste-to-value recycling and remediation opportunity involving reprocessing old tailings from a decommissioned mine. It is also the only sizable resource of manganese in the European Union, strategically positioning the company to provide battery supply chains with critical raw materials to support the global shift to a circular, low-carbon economy.
