Europe’s critical raw materials industry is moving beyond pilot projects and policy ambitions towards a broader investment cycle, as established metals producers and specialist recyclers develop facilities to recover strategic materials from industrial waste, electronic scrap and end-of-life products.
The European Commission’s latest selection under the Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA) highlights the scale of the shift. Of the 46 Strategic Projects selected in October 2026, 19 focus on recycling, making it the largest category in the portfolio.
Behind these approvals, companies are advancing investments in copper, lithium, precious metals and other materials essential to European manufacturing, energy infrastructure and technology.
Major Metals Producers Commit Capital to Recycling
Germany’s Aurubis has commissioned its €190 million Complex Recycling Hamburg facility, expanding its capacity to process complex recycling materials and smelter intermediates.
Polish copper producer KGHM is pursuing a transformation of its Legnica smelting operation into an integrated recycling metallurgical plant. Together with development of the Retków-Grodziszcze copper deposit, the company’s two investments represent more than PLN 9.5 billion.
Lithium producer AMG is also expanding its downstream capabilities at Bitterfeld, Germany. The company is engineering a planned 5,000-tonne-per-year conversion unit to process recycled lithium carbonate into lithium hydroxide feedstock, with estimated investment of approximately $50 million.
Specialist developer CRITICAL. has estimated investment of around €25 million for its planned German solar-panel recycling facility, which is designed to process up to one million end-of-life panels annually.
Meanwhile, Mitsubishi Materials is assessing the commercialisation of its proposed 3ECYCLE project in the Netherlands, targeting electronic scrap and the recovery of copper and other valuable metals. Other CRMA-backed developments are focused on battery recycling, printed circuit boards, rare-earth magnets and complex industrial residues.
Recycling Facilities Require Infrastructure-Scale Investment
The growing project pipeline is making strategic metals recycling increasingly comparable to infrastructure investment. Industrial facilities require specialised furnaces, chemical-processing systems, filtration equipment, wastewater treatment, emissions controls, digital traceability technology and extensive material-handling infrastructure.
Their commercial viability depends on two critical factors: securing reliable feedstock at predictable prices and selling recovered materials that meet the specifications required by industrial customers.
This creates a different risk profile from conventional mining. Mining investments depend heavily on geological resources, ore grades, reserves and mine development plans. Recycling projects must instead manage the availability, quality and cost of waste materials. Even a technically successful plant can underperform if competing facilities drive up scrap prices or collection networks fail to deliver sufficient volumes.
Feedstock and Commodity Prices Shape Project Economics
Commodity markets introduce another layer of uncertainty. Higher metal prices can increase the value of recovered products, but they may also raise the cost of scrap and other secondary feedstocks.
Energy expenses, treatment charges, recovery rates and waste-disposal liabilities can further influence operating margins. The profitability of each facility therefore depends on the relationship between input costs, processing efficiency and the market value of recovered metals.
CRMA Strategic Project status does not guarantee commercial success. Although the designation can support project development, permitting and access to relevant financing instruments, investors must still establish that each operation can generate sustainable returns.
Integrated Metals Groups Have a Potential Advantage
Companies with established industrial networks may be better positioned to manage these challenges by connecting recycling with existing processing and refining operations.
Aurubis can integrate complex secondary materials into its wider smelting network. KGHM can combine primary copper production with recycling, while Mitsubishi Materials brings established non-ferrous metallurgical expertise to its proposed European project.
AMG can connect recycled lithium feedstock with its existing lithium-processing capabilities, creating opportunities to integrate recovered materials into a broader production chain.
Specialist recyclers may pursue a different competitive strategy, relying on proprietary technologies, higher recovery rates or the ability to process waste streams that conventional smelters find difficult to handle economically. Europe’s recycling industry is consequently developing through several business models, ranging from large integrated metals producers to battery specialists, chemical processors and technology-driven urban-mining companies.
Europe’s Existing Metal Stock Becomes a Strategic Resource
The underlying investment opportunity comes from the enormous quantity of metals already embedded in European cars, electricity networks, buildings, electronics and industrial machinery.
Recovering these materials can create additional domestic supply without relying exclusively on new extraction or imports. However, the scale of the opportunity will depend on whether recycling facilities can secure suitable feedstock, achieve competitive recovery rates and operate profitably.
If the new generation of plants succeeds commercially, Europe’s accumulated stock of copper, lithium and other strategic metals could become an increasingly important resource base, complementing primary mining and strengthening the region’s long-term raw materials security.
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