Chance auf mehrer 100% Gewinn??

By Nikki Tait in Brussels and Joshua Chaffin in,Strasbourg

Published: June 16 2010 03:00 | Last updated: June 16 2010 03:00

Europe should support mining exploration and improve recycling of critical minor metals such as antimony, cobalt or rare earth elements, a high-level expert group will recommend tomorrow as it warns of future supply risks.

In a report seen by the Financial Times, the group, will not, however, recommend to Brussels any policy of stockpiling the materials - a contrast with US policy.

The group, chaired by the European Commission and set up as part of Brussels' effort to secure sustainable supplies for the bloc, will label 14 minerals as "critical" and warn of potential shortages over the coming decades in its first report.

Washington has kept a strategic reserve of some minor metals, including cobalt, for years.

Now, the US defence department is pushing to create additional reserves.

Many minor metals traders remain sceptical about the prospect of shortages, arguing that political concerns about so-called "critical" metals are misplaced.

They do not foresee worse problems than for more common metals such as copper.

Out of more than 40 that were analysed, the commodities that the European expert group considers critical for the region's industry are: antimony, beryllium, cobalt, fluorspar, gallium, germanium, graphite, indium, magnesium, niobium, the platinum group metals, rare earths, tantalum and tungsten.

Demand for many of these materials has also been spurred by the development of new technologies such as fuel cells, mobile phones batteries or wind power generation. Forecasts suggest further increases in the next two decades.