The European Commission will finance with 615 million euros three mineral projects of strategic importance for the future of the Romanian economy, located in the counties of Gorj, Hunedoara and Bihor and consisting in the mining of graphite, magnesium and copper, Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu announced on Tuesday in a statement delivered at the Victoria Palace together with Economy Minister Bogdan Ivan.

„Standing here with Minister of Economy and Digital Transformation Bogdan Ivan, we have extremely good news to share. The European Commission will finance with 615 million euros three projects of strategic importance for the future of the Romanian economy, sitting in Gorj, Hunedoara and Bihor. These are three investments that will exploit minerals all the world’s great economic powers are fighting over – graphite, magnesium and copper,” declared Ciolacu.

He added that „these essential and critical raw materials are used first and foremost in energy, aviation and the defense industry”, noting also that the announced investments will create new jobs and help the horizontal development of the entire industry.

Ciolacu mentioned the discussions he had on these projects with EC Executive Vice-President for Prosperity and Industrial Strategy Stephane Sejourne.

„At the last meeting with the European Commission Vice-President, Commissioner Sejourne, we talked all three projects over, Romania had seven projects submitted of which these three were selected. They will automatically lead to thousands of jobs being created, but also to a horizontal development of the entire industry,” Ciolacu declared.

Economy Minister Bogdan Ivan pointed out that the graphite exploitation project is „100 percent Romanian”.

„The 200 million euro project of SALROM, a company in the portfolio of the Ministry of Economy and Digital Transformation, is a 100 percent Romanian project which will ensure the extraction of 15,000 tons per year of graphite that can be used in everything automotive industry, defense industry, as well as for energy storage. This project comes in a context where Europe has an increasing need for this resource, which can be found in Romania and yet another EU country,” Ivan pointed out.

The minister also offered details about the magnesium mining investment.

„When we talk about green magnesium, we are talking about an investment of 115 million euros. This is a critical resource that is incorporated in aerospace industry applications and which can also be used in the pharmaceutical industry. This project comes to affirm Romania as the only EU country that will exploit this extremely important resource,” explained Ivan.

He also dwelled on the importance of copper extraction, which will increase Europe’s production of this material by 2.3%.

„The largest of the three projects, which is located in Hunedoara County, involves 300 million euros for the extraction and purification of copper and gold from Romania’s subsoil, which will automatically cut the reliance of the entire copper final processing cycle on imports. At this moment, Romania depends on copper imports from non-EU countries. With this project, which will produce 20,000 tons of copper concentrate annually, we will cover both the needs of the Romanian economy in everything that means the processing industry, as well as a significant part of the European one. We will increase by 2.3% the European copper production, essentially in everything related to microconductors, the automotive, aerospace and defense industry,” declared Bogdan Ivan.

AGERPRES