Critical Minerals or Clean Standards? EU Faces Policy Crossroads on Mining Regulation

On June 12, 2025, several leading European mining companies and industry associations issued a joint warning that proposed updates to the European Union’s chemicals regulation framework (REACH) could jeopardize the bloc’s ambitions to secure domestic supplies of critical raw materials. The concern centers on stricter classification and labelling requirements for certain substances used in mineral extraction and processing. According to the industry, these changes could render key operations economically unviable or cause delays in permitting and compliance—hampering the EU’s ability to develop local sources of lithium, rare earths, and other strategic minerals vital for green technologies and defense.