"Critical minerals are the new strategic asset of the Italian industry"

In a world marked by conflicts (armed and commercial), critical raw materials are no longer an industry issue, but one of strategic assets on which Italy’s industrial competitiveness depends and on which the energy transition. Indeed, batteries, electricity grids, digital technologies, electric mobility, renewable energy and advanced defense systems all depend on access to strategic materials.

The conference on energy and raw materials

The central message that emerged from the conference “Energy and raw materials for the competitiveness of production chains”, organized yesterday by Assorisources marks the beginning of a journey of “physical connection” among all the protagonists of the sector (institutions, businesses, trade unions, academic and financial worlds).

“We have breathed an air of optimism now we must move on to concrete actionslet’s build one new supply chain in Italy to systematize all the actors of the critical minerals”, the invitation of the ‘landlady’, Francesca Zarri president of the association who summarized an intense afternoon of dialogue.

Urso, strategic autonomy is not a choice but a priority

Gathered in the hall Rome Events (a stone’s throw from Piazza di Spagna), the representatives of over 120 companies between producers of energy and raw materials, services and representatives of research and universities. The Minister of Business and Made in Italy, Adolfo Ursostarted the work.

“The paradigm of our time is geopolitical, commercial and energy conflict. The crises of recent years have demonstrated how vulnerable supply chains are and how much Europe’s competitiveness depends on the security of energy and critical raw materials. For this reason, strategic autonomy no longer represents a choice, but a priority”.

On critical raw materialsItaly “has chosen to play in advance, applying to host one of the first European strategic storage hubs, with Porto Marghera at the center of a system proposal that enhances our logistical, industrial and manufacturing strength”, the minister finally explained.

video interview with Francesca Zarri, president of Assorisorse

Brusco: “Without energy security there is no industrial competitiveness”

“Without energy security there is no industrial competitiveness” he underlined Guido Bruscopresident of Confindustria Energia. “Today – he continued – the concrete risk is that Europe will lose production capacity, investments and employment if it does not decisively address the issue of the cost and availability of energy, abandoning ideological approaches and focusing on pragmatic solutions and efficient.”

video interview with Guido Brusco, president of Confindustria Energia

Mining has not disappeared in Italy

Mining has not disappeared in Italy. On the contrary. They are active approximately 76 minesdistributed mainly in Sardinia, Piedmont, Sicily, Tuscany, Lazio and Calabria. Large quantities of metals are no longer mined as in the past. Production is now concentrated on industrial minerals: feldspato, fluorite, rock saltbentonite, kaolin and talc.

These are little-known but fundamental materials for numerous production chains. Overall, Assorisources represents approximately 30 mining sites producing over 7 million tons of minerals per year, a volume intended mainly for the national and European manufacturing industry. Feldspar, for example, fuels pproduction of ceramics and glasssectors in which Italy is among the world leaders.

“Resilient supply chains”

From the ‘summit’ promoted by Assorisorse a shared picture emerged: security of suppliesavailability of critical raw materials and industrial capacity today represent increasingly interdependent elements and are the basis of the competitiveness of many other production chains.

In fact, the challenge no longer concerns only the availability of resources, but the ability to build resilient supply chains along the entire value chain, from extraction to transformation, from recycling to the technologies that use these materials.

Among the industrial needs that emerged during the day: strengthening the resilience of supply chains through diversification and development of integrated capabilities also in Europe, encouraging greater integration and guaranteeing time and certainty for investments.

video interview with Ivano Menso – R&D&I+QCLab Director industrial minerals

Gas and biomethane

The relaunch of Gas Release could go in this direction, in fact after years of strong contraction, thenational gas extraction has reversed the trend, contributing to reducing dependence on foreign countries and containing gas prices, especially in increasingly frequent emergency contexts.

However, if no action is taken on some systems such as, for example, theEmissions Trade System (ETS) and the regulation of methane emissions, security of supply and diversification of energy supplies are called into question. A further strategic lever to reduce energy dependence on foreign countries and accelerate the decarbonisation path, the speakers of the event explained, is represented by biomethaneespecially relevant for hard-to-abate businesses.

Rules, supply chains and skills

Even for critical raw materials today we must overcome regulatory complexities, industrial fragmentation, the complexity and interdependencies of value chains and the uncertainty of demand. To do this, the message returned by the works, a coordinated action is necessary which places at the center a clear regulatory orchestration, particularly environmental, a solid mapping of the supply chains, the development of pilot plants and industrial samples integrated horizontally and vertically by competence, competitive energy policies, market stabilization and protection tools and a strong investment in the training of technical-scientific skills capable of supporting the growth of the entire ecosystem.

“Regulatory framework and competitiveness”

Just one clear regulatory frameworkstable and predictable, explains Assorisorse, can create the conditions to enhance innovation, encouraging long-term investments and the development of a more competitive national and European supply chain.

From the world of companies linked to services and technology comes the message that theenergy remains the foundation of competitiveness of the Village: today the challenge is not only to accelerate the transition, but to do it with systems capable of guaranteeing security, availability and industrial scale. To achieve this we need resilience, innovation and a supply chain that knows how to work as a system, because the competitiveness of the future is built together.

Expanded partnerships, networking, creating synergies: the common thread that linked the interventions of the protagonists of the conference in the awareness that the industry is experiencing a complex moment and needs knowledge to innovate and make the best use of data,going beyond fragmentations.

Le partnership sui critical materials I am therefore supportive in keeping attention high on the issue to build something together that keeps businesses together, banks e institutions.

Zarri: “The challenge is to put together our strategic assets”

In the conclusions, the president of Assorisorse, Francesca Zarri, recalled the need to face these challenges with a long-term perspective, underlining that: “It is necessary to proceed with an awareness of the present, of the critical issues, of the opportunities and of the solutions, and to have an overall vision of the future. The real challenge is to systematize our strategic assets: skills, technology, research and financial instruments capable of accompanying the transformation”.