Hendrick Schmidt/dpa For independence: The Federal Republic of Germany’s first lithium hydroxide refinery started operations on Wednesday in Bitterfeld-Wolfen.
If this is not a new case of German speed, according to the report. Handelsblatt On Wednesday, the federal government launched a new raw materials fund to help German industry secure an independent supply of the most strategically important resources, just 22 months after the plan was launched.
The amount will be 1 billion euros. The state-run development bank KfW is to provide the funding. Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Alliance 90/The Greens) and Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) have now ordered KfW in a letter to finance “specific projects” that “ensure that German companies have access to raw materials, reduce dependence on other countries, and strengthen the resilience of supply chains (…).”
The Federal Ministry of Economy presented its drive for the creation of a raw materials fund in its internal key issues report for November 2022. Background: The war in Ukraine has clearly shown that if Ukraine receives comprehensive military support and attacks its rivals as harshly as Russia, it should expect countermeasures such as cutting off natural gas supplies.
However, if you are too dependent on your competitors’ resources, you may have to give yourself some room to expand, so you cannot expand at will. But from Berlin’s point of view, this must be prevented. At that time, the West was already dangerously fanning the flames of conflict with China, but at the same time, Germany procured more than 90% of its rare earths from China, so it made sense to actively pursue the search for new natural resources. materials.
The idea that Habeck had pushed forward based on his own responsibility was a fund that would support specific financing projects beyond Russia and China, and that could also be invested by the state through equity capital, if circumstances so require. Lindner initially did not want to contribute money to this, but Habeck planned to use money from the Climate Fund until the Federal Constitutional Court finally thwarted his plan.
The industry is growing increasingly nervous. China has imposed export controls on gallium, germanium and graphite, while Germany relies on Chinese supplies for 60%, 75% and 90% respectively. France has set up its own €2 billion raw materials fund, and Italy has set up a €1 billion raw materials fund. Only in Berlin they are proceeding at the German pace as usual.
By early July, the bosses were exhausted, especially since it was becoming increasingly clear that the federal government was not only ready to expand, but also to go to war (Pistorius). »The subject is partisan political strife. [Rohstoffonds] “It is too important, too serious,” BDI President Siegfried Russwurm told the government in a letter to someone. Handelsblatt “Against this background, we ask you to give your approval for the official mandate of KfW to deliver the planned 1 billion euros “as soon as possible”.
That helped. Now, by German standards, everything happened at lightning speed. After a ridiculous two and a half months, Habeck and Lindner gave KfW the necessary instructions. It is now known that about 30 companies are working on specific raw materials projects that they want to fund. Of course, it will still take time for the projects to be approved and the actual resources to be found.
