By Nikki Tait in Brussels and Joshua Chaffin in Strasbourg

Published: June 15 2010

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Europe should support mining exploration and improve recycling of critical minor metals such asantimony, cobalt or rare earth elements, a high-level expert group will recommend tomorrow as it warns of future supply risks.

In a report seen by the Financial Times, the group, will not, however, recommend to Brussels any policy of stockpiling the materials – a contrast with US policy.

The group, chaired by the European Commission and set up as part of Brussels’ effort to secure sustainable supplies for the bloc,will label 14 mineralsas “critical” and warn of potential shortages over the coming decades in its first report.

Washington has kept a strategic reserve of some minor metals, including cobalt, for years.

Now, the US defence department is pushing to create additional reserves.

Many minor metals traders remain sceptical about the prospect of shortages, arguing that political concerns about so-called “critical” metals are misplaced.

They do not foresee worse problems than for more common metals such as copper.

Out of more than 40 that were analysed, the commodities that the European expert group considers critical for the region’s industry are:antimony, beryllium, cobalt, fluorspar, gallium, germanium, graphite, indium, magnesium, niobium, the platinum group metals, rare earths, tantalum and tungsten.

Demand for many of these materials has also been spurred by the development of new technologies such as fuel cells, mobile phones batteries or wind power generation. Forecasts suggest further increases in the next two decades.

The report’s recommendations include policies to improve access to primary resources by promoting exploration and ensuring that this is viewed as research activity.

It also advocates various trade-related initiatives, including a new EU-wide policy on foreign investment agreements to better protect the bloc’s investments in raw materials abroad. It also calls for policies to make recycling more efficient.

For many of these materials, the supply risk stems largely from the fact that their production is concentrated in a handful of countries – notably China, Brazil, Russia and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The report warns that this concentration is then compounded by a lack of substitutes and low recycling rates.

London and the Swiss cities of Lucerne and Zug are the global centres of minor metals trading.

Antonio Tajani, EU industry commissioner, who will present the report on Thursday, told the FT that he was eager to deepen co-operation with Africa to improve Europe’s access to raw materials.

Mr Tajani discussed the matter with officials from the African Union in Addis Ababa a week ago.

Raw materials have been a key issue in Europe’s trade policy. Last June, the EU filed a complaint against China at the World Trade Organisation accusing it of hoarding raw materials such as bauxite, magnesium and zinc.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/5c70746c-78a3-11df-a312-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1CoafrMpu