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Tuesday, 27.05.2025, 22:47
Sillamäe may become the keeper of Europe’s strategic metal reserves
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Experts recommend the European Commission to locate rare earths, niobium and tantalum security reserve storage facility in Sillamäe to protect the electronics, car and fuel industry from Chinese pressure, said Silmet’s manager David O’Brock. He said that for that a well guarded warehouse with space of 3,000 sq metres is needed and up to three years of reserves needed by EU industrial companies should be purchased for it.
Silmet, located in Sillamäe, is the only producer and exporter of rare metals and rare earths products besides market leader China located in the so-called elsewhere in the world. China started limiting rare metals export with quotas to force world top technology producers to move to China.
A research team hired by the European Commission turned this year to Silmet to find a solution that would help the union’s industrial companies to supply themselves with strategically important raw materials. If the EU decides in favour of a strategic warehouse, building it will take six months and filling the warehouse with concentrated ore supply for three years takes another six months.
Western rare earth suppliers have been scrambling to boost production to plug a supply gap created last year when No. 1 producer China sharply cut its exports of the metals, used in products ranging from laptop computers to hybrid-electric cars.
O'Brock told in an interview to Reuters that he suggested to the task force
there is no point to stockpile the finished elements because every single
customer uses a different quality.
O'Brock said he recommended to the task force that the EU stockpile a year
worth of his plant's capacity or 3,000 tonnes of mixed rare earth carbonate.
"The one thing the EU does not want to happen is someday the Chinese say,
'that is it, no more lanthanum.' Shut down your war machines because you can't
get high octane fuel anymore for your plane and stuff,'" O'Brock said.
Molycorp Silmet's production is stable at 3,000 tonnes and Molycorp's U.S.
operations are also 3,000 tonnes to give the units 10 percent of the world
market after China's introduction of export quotas.
O'Brock pointed out that prices of rare earths have stabilized after the sharp
increases over the last year.
Silmet started producing rare earths and rare metals in 1970s and U.S. rare
metals producer Molycorp bought a stake in it this April.
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