EU launches operations of critical minerals procurement platform

The European Union on Monday launched ⁠the critical minerals ⁠section of its energy and materials ⁠procurement platform, which aims to give more power to regional buyers and cut dependence on dominant producer China by aggregating their purchases.The platform is part of the bloc’s RESourceEU strategy, announced in December ‌to develop its supply chains for rare earths and other strategic minerals needed for the energy transition and defence applications. China controls up to 90 per cent of output in that sector.The EU’s Energy and Raw Materials Platform opened to submissions from buyers on Monday in the first phase ⁠of a multi-month process, an EU spokesperson told Reuters.The platform connects buyers with suppliers, ‌but leaves the two sides to finalise trades.The first round of connections between buyers and sellers will start on April 13, ‌the spokesperson said, and will focus on “immediately and soon-to-be-available rare earths, ⁠battery and defence raw ⁠materials”. The results will be announced in September.Last year, the EU chose PricewaterhouseCoopers and a Slovak software ‌company to develop its €9 million (US$10.6 million) platform, which has separate mechanisms for strategic raw materials, hydrogen, and ‌energy products ‌such as natural gas and biomethane.