The expert assessed the prospects for the development of mining of rare metals in the EU

It is unlikely that the European Union (EU) will be able to achieve its goals of increasing the share of its own production and processing by 2030, industrial expert Leonid Khazanov told Izvestia.

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"There are not so many large and easily accessible deposits in it, not to mention the capacity for processing raw materials. And even if the Europeans receive some volumes from For Ukraine, they will not help the EU," Khazanov said.

Earlier, the European Union adopted a law on critical raw materials, according to which by 2030 at least 10% of the EU's annual consumption should be extracted within the union, and at least 40% should be processed.

Currently, Brussels is completely dependent on imports from China for this issue, but it is trying to find new sources of supplies. In particular, as European Commissioner for Industrial Strategy Stefan Sejournay clarified, the EU offered Kiev to conclude an agreement on "critically important materials." He noted that Ukraine "can provide the EU with 21 of the 30 most important materials."

Read more in the exclusive Izvestia article:

Ore reserves: EU loses in race for rare earth metals