Canada and EU push to curb China’s grip on critical‑minerals processing

The European Union’s Critical Raw Materials Act, effective May 2024, sets a target that by 2030 the EU should process at least 40 % of its annual consumption of strategic minerals, with 10 % domestic extraction and 25 % recycling. China currently dominates the refining stage, controlling over 70 % of processing for 19 of the 20 energy‑transition minerals and supplying about 90 % of the EU’s refined imports, creating supply‑chain vulnerabilities that have already caused production stoppages in European factories.

In response, Canada and the EU are meeting to deepen cooperation in the mid‑stream of the critical‑minerals value chain—processing, refining and chemical transformation—to reduce reliance on Chinese capacity. Metallurgist Phillip Mackey warned that China now smelts roughly 60 % of global copper and refines a similar share, while Western smelting capacity has collapsed, exemplified by the United States’ reduction to two plants. Rebuilding Western processing would require long‑term political commitment and substantial financing.