Europe's Green Dream is Being Built on Borrowed Zinc

Last April, De Tijd warned that Europe must build 40 new mines and metal factories by 2030 to meet its own green transition targets — a figure based on calculations by Eurometaux (European Metals Association), the European Federation of Metal Producers. Among the most urgent needs is zinc, essential for batteries, wind turbines, and solar panels.

illustration

But beneath the policy urgency lies a deeper crisis: Europe has already lost control over key zinc assets and critical minerals it once owned.

In 𝐆𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐧𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝, a vast zinc deposit containing 𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐮𝐦 — vital for semiconductors and defense tech — was once partially controlled by Brussels-listed Nyrstar. Its offtake rights to 35% of the mine’s furture production have since been absorbed by Trafigura, a 𝐒𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐚𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐞-based commodities giant, through what some now call the most brazen corporate boardroom raid in Belgian industrial history.

Meanwhile, Nyrstar’s zinc mines in 𝐓𝐞𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐞, rich in 𝐠𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐮𝐦 and accounting for 80% of U.S. needs, have also shifted to Trafigura’s contrrol — now being positioned as strategic assets by the U.S. defense sector. Back in Europe, smelters sit idle, and Belgium’s recycling push through Umicore relies on feedstock from Nyrstar plants no longer under EU control.

Zinc doesn’t make headlines like lithium, but it’s a cornerstone of industrial resilience. 𝐄𝐮𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞 𝐨𝐰𝐧𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐬𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 — 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐬.

Today, Nyrstar’s minority shareholders are fighting to undo the asset transfer to Trafigura, aiming to return control of strategic zinc, germanium, and gallium assets to Europe. If successful, it would be more than a legal win. It would be a bold first step toward restoring sovereignty over the critical raw materials needed to make Europe’s ambitions real.

Go to original article

---

This article may be behind a paywall due to intellectual property rights, in which case we are legally unable to provide full access.