Spain is aiming to tap its unexplored strategic mining resources as the European Union urgently seeks to ramp up production, but local resistance could frustrate the government’s plans. The European mining heavyweight has 2,600 mines generating 3.5 billion euros ($3.8 billion) in annual revenue and is the second-largest EU producer of copper and magnesite, but sector specialists believe its potential is largely untapped.
“Spain possesses huge wealth in its subsoil” and “must continue investigating” to quantify it, said Ester Boixereu, a geologist and natural resources specialist at the Geological and Mining Institute of Spain.
Deposits of lithium, cobalt, tungsten, nickel and rare earths have been discovered in the south and west of the country in recent years. Their strategic value has soared as the green energy and technology races have gathered pace because they are critical in the construction of electric-battery cars, wind turbines and smartphones.
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