Antimony, beryllium, cobalt, gallium, indium, magnesium, niobium, tantalum, tungsten … are some of theEssential raw materials to manufacture high-tech products such as mobile phones, photovoltaic modules or lithium batteries. And the majorityare scarce on the European continent. The solution? Recycle, as recommended by the European Commission.
According to a group of experts just made public, there are fourteen fundamental minerals for the development of technology in the European Union: antimony, beryllium, cobalt, fluorspar, gallium, germanium, graphite, indium, magnesium, niobium, metals of the platinum group (PGM), rare earths, tantalum and tungsten. Forecasts indicate thatdemand for some of these critical raw materials could more than triple between 2006 and 2030. And that growing demand for the growth of developing economies and new emerging technologies would put supply at risk. Furthermore, a large part of world production comes mainly from a few countries:China (antimony, fluorspar, gallium, germanium, graphite, indium, magnesium, rare earths and tungsten),Russia(PGM),Democratic Republic of Congo(cobalt and tantalum) andBrazil(niobium and tantalum).
The main emerging technologies that need critical raw materials are:microcapacitors (antimony), thelithium ion batteries and synthetic fuels (cobalt), thephotovoltaic modulesthin layer,integrated circuitsand theemitting diodeswhite lightgallium), theoptical fiberand optical technologiesinfrared(germanium), thescreens(Indian), thefuel cellsand catalysts, permanent magnets andlaser technology (neodymium, a rare earth), etc.
To avoid future problems, experts suggest improving the efficiency of therecycling raw materialsor products that contain raw materials, such as mobile phones, while promoting the substitution of certain minerals for new materials.
