New plan unveiled to reduce strategic dependencies.
Since 2021, France has pursued a strategy to reduce dependence on critical metals and rare earth elements. With the newly presented National Resilience Plan for Rare Earths and Permanent Magnets (PDF), the country seeks to address tightening supply conditions and the heavy concentration of production and processing capacities in only a handful of countries, most notably China.
At the core of the strategy is the development of an integrated value chain in France and across Europe, spanning from the securing of mining concentrates to refining, metallization, and the production and recycling of permanent magnets. Specifically, France aims to establish domestic capacities capable of fully meeting Europe’s demand for heavy rare earths and partially covering demand for light rare earths by 2030. In addition, the plan targets the production of alloys sufficient to meet around 10% of European industrial demand, as well as fully recycled NdFeB magnets. To achieve these goals, the initiative relies on public funding instruments and support for targeted industrial projects.
The national strategy is embedded within broader European and international frameworks, including the Critical Raw Materials Act, REsourceEU, the Industrial Accelerator Act, and the G7 partnership on resilient supply chains. France is therefore not pursuing an isolated approach; rather, it is positioning itself as a European frontrunner in the rare earth sector, leveraging the expertise of companies such as Carester and Solvay.
Read more: France could become the operational hub of the G7 raw materials strategy.
Photo: via Canva, montage by rawmaterials.net
