Romania aims to become global player in rare metals sector – energy minister

“Today, Romania has among the largest automotive and industrial wiring companies, which import huge quantities of copper from India, China or Turkey, most of it from ore mined in Romania,” Ivan said for local news channel Antena 3 on Monday. “Once Romania will have a rare earths refinery, companies that today produce aerospace components 7,000 km away will think about opening, for example, in Brasov or Sibiu, a microconductor factory near Feldioara. Thus, Romania will become a global player, with resources, talents and know-how in the nuclear and critical materials industry.”

Ivan said that in April 2025, three local projects involving critical raw materials were recognised as strategically significant by the EU. One of the projects involves a 300 million euro ($355.3 million) investment for the construction of the country’s first copper refinery, to be located in the western county of Hunedoara. This project is operated by a private company with Romanian capital in collaboration with state-owned copper mining company CupruMin. Currently, the raw copper ore being extracted in Hunedoara is sent to Turkey or other Asian states for refining and then brought back to Romania for the manufacturing of cables and other industrial components, Ivan explained.

The other two projects, worth a total 315 million euro, involve the extraction of metallic magnesium in the northwestern county of Bihor and the extraction of battery-grade graphite in the southwestern county of Gorj, respectively. Two companies from the US and Canada are involved in the Bihor project, while the Gorj one, Baia de Fier, one is operated by majority state-owned company Salrom.

Ivan also talked about an agreement signed by Romania with a US-based mining company that holds licenses for the exploitation of rare earth deposits in Greenland.

“By mid-April, we will clearly crystallise the terms, the materials processed in Romania, the conditions and financing, and the government will approve the memorandum for the implementation of the first integrated project between extraction, refining and subsequent consumption. That company already has contracts with large companies in the US aerospace industry,” the energy minister told Antena 3.

In December, the energy ministry said the Feldioara Uranium Concentrate Processing Plant (FPCU), a subsidiary of Nuclearelectrica [BSE:SNN], operator of Romania’s only nuclear power plant Cernavoda, would set up a joint venture with US-based rare earth miner Critical Metals Corp. The project would ensure that 50% of the rare earths extracted from the largest deposit of this type in the world, located in Greenland, would be processed at Feldioara factory. This would make Romania a constant supplier of indispensable materials for key industries such as microprocessors, aerospace and defense. The project could be financed through the European RESourceEU Action Plan, with a budget of up to 3 billion euro.