Source: European Investment Bank
- Europe has significant untapped mineral potential, but decades of underinvestment have left too few exploration projects ready to move towards mining.
- A new EIB-commissioned study finds that exploration spending in the European Union would need to rise from around €0.2 billion to around €2 billion a year over the next five years to help meet the EU’s domestic extraction goals under the Critical Raw Materials Act.
- The study sets out practical steps for EU institutions, EU countries and the private sector: simpler and more predictable permitting, better geological data, stronger public awareness, targeted financial incentives and more support for innovation.
Europe has the geological potential to strengthen its own supply of critical raw materials, but it needs faster and better-targeted action to turn that potential into real projects. This is the main message of a new technical study commissioned by the EIB, prepared with the assistance of Aurum Exploration Limited.
The study focuses on one key part of the challenge: mineral exploration. Without exploration, there can be no new mines, no new domestic supply and no strong pipeline of projects for later investment. Yet exploration is also the riskiest part of the raw materials value chain. According to the study, only around one in 10 000 early exploration prospects and one in 1 000 more advanced exploration projects eventually become operating mines.
The EU’s Critical Raw Materials Act sets a target for at least 10% of the EU’s annual consumption of strategic raw materials to come from domestic extraction by 2030. The study finds that policy ambition currently runs ahead of the number of exploration projects that are ready to move towards development, largely because Europe has invested too little in exploration for many years.
Current mineral exploration spending in the EU is estimated at around €0.2 billion a year. To help meet the EU’s objectives, the study estimates that this would need to increase tenfold to around €2 billion a year over the next five years. This would place EU exploration spending above current comparable spending in Canada and Australia, two of the world’s leading mining jurisdictions.
The study also finds that the EU currently attracts only a small share of global exploration investment. In 2024, Canada accounted for 20% of the global exploration budget and Australia for 16%, while the EU accounted for 3%. At the same time, the study points to encouraging examples within the EU, with countries such as Finland and Sweden showing that stronger exploration activity is possible in Europe.
“Europe’s debate on critical raw materials often starts with imports. This can create the impression that Europe will remain largely dependent on external supply,” said Nicola Beer, Vice-President of the European Investment Bank. “But this study shows that Europe has significant mineral potential of its own, which could play a much bigger role in strengthening our supply security. The challenge is to create the conditions that allow this potential to be discovered and developed responsibly. That means better geological data, faster and more predictable permitting, and financial tools that help attract private investment into a high-risk but strategically important part of the value chain.”
The study identifies several barriers that limit exploration in the EU. These include complex and fragmented permitting systems, long approval times, limited public understanding of why raw materials matter, incomplete or outdated geological mapping, too few small exploration companies able to take on early-stage risk, and insufficient financial incentives for early-stage projects.
The study provides recommendations on how to enable responsible exploration, implement and promote the Critical Raw Materials Act, strengthen public geoscience, mobilise exploration capital and build a stronger mining innovation ecosystem. It also highlights the potential of modern technologies, including remote sensing, artificial intelligence and advanced geological modelling, as well as the possibility of recovering critical raw materials from historic mine waste.
The findings come as the EIB Group is stepping up its support for critical raw materials. In March 2025, the Bank approved a new Critical Raw Materials Strategic Initiative, establishing a higher level of ambition for financing and investment across the critical raw materials value chain and creating a one-stop shop and dedicated taskforce to support project development.
Background information
The EIB Group
The European Investment Bank Group is the financing arm of the European Union, owned by the 27 Member States, and one of the largest multilateral development banks in the world. In 2025, the EIB Group signed €100 billion of new financing and advisory services for over 870 high-impact projects in eight core priorities that support EU policy objectives: climate action and the environment, digitalisation and technological innovation, security and defence, cohesion, agriculture and the bioeconomy, social infrastructure, strong global partnerships and the savings and investment union.
Photos of the EIB Group’s spokespeople and headquarters, logo files and video B-roll for media use are available here.
EIB Critical Raw Materials Strategic Initiative
The EIB Group is a key provider of finance and advisory in the critical raw materials sector. It supports the implementation of the EU’s Critical Raw Materials Act, which aims to ensure access to a secure and sustainable supply of critical raw materials.
Under its Critical Raw Materials Strategic Initiative, the EIB Group focuses on projects across the value chain, including exploration, extraction, processing, recycling, substitution and innovation, in line with EU priorities. The initiative includes a one-stop shop and a dedicated taskforce to help support project development.
About the study
The technical study, Challenges and solutions for mineral exploration in Europe, was commissioned by the European Investment Bank and prepared with the assistance of Aurum Exploration Limited. It examines the challenges and possible solutions for mineral exploration investment across the EU’s 27 Member States, comparing the EU with leading mining jurisdictions including Canada, Australia, the United States, Chile, Japan and Ireland.