Estonian rare-earth processing company Silmet has been selected as an EU strategic project, opening access to support for investment in reconfiguring its plant to process raw materials from global markets.
The designation could help the company attract investors, identify financing and adapt its production to strengthen Europe’s supply of materials used in electronics and batteries, writes ERR.
Silmet enters Europe’s strategic raw-materials push
The European Commission selected 46 new strategic projects intended to strengthen the European Union’s access to critical raw materials. Silmet’s inclusion means the European Commission can help identify funding, connect investors and companies, and accelerate project planning.
“Silmet 2.0 has been added to that list, which means above all that we can now also help the company find financing opportunities through the European Commission,” Ave Schank-Lukas, head of the European Commission Representation in Estonia, said. “We can bring together investors and companies and also accelerate planning, because Europe urgently needs companies like this so that we can reduce our dependencies.”
The plant was built during the Soviet era to process raw material supplied from Solikamsk into high-value rare earth metals. Separating Silmet from that supply chain has proved difficult, despite assistance from Estonia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“There are several possibilities in addition to that plant in Russia. We have explored the possibility of obtaining raw materials from Latin America, Asia and Africa; there are various options,” Kenneth Kopamees, director general of foreign trade policy at Estonia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said. “The question is rather whether the technology Silmet currently has can receive raw materials from other countries, apart from Russia.”
Reconfiguring the plant for alternative supplies
Silmet’s strategic-project status comes as Estonia seeks to reduce the company’s dependence on one source of raw materials. Margus Tsahkna, Estonia’s foreign minister, said the investment support should be tied to a deadline for ending the Russian supply link. “In cooperation with the European Commission, we will set NPM Silmet a clear deadline for giving up Russian raw materials,” Tsahkna said.
Silmet 2.0 is an investment and development plan to adapt the plant’s infrastructure and production processes for new sources of raw material. The project would also need to address naturally occurring radionuclides in rare-earth materials. At Solikamsk, those radioactive elements were separated, and the radioactive fraction remained in Russia.
Silmet’s former development director Jane Pajo said the company’s basic technology could be adapted to materials from other sources. “Silmet’s basic technology is quite flexible, provided the carbonates largely correspond to the raw material they currently use, and why should they not?” Pajo said. “I think Silmet actually has a lot of capacity to develop other parts of the process, which would allow it to make better use of this raw material. If an investor has confidence that it can be built at the plant, then I think this is a matter of five-plus years.”
Subject to a final investment decision, Silmet 2.0 is expected to triple the facility’s total separation capacity, says the official press release.
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