EU may fund Silmet if it sets Russian supply exit date

Estonia’s Silmet plant could receive European funding to retool away from Russian raw materials, but may have to set a deadline for ending those supplies, ERR reports.

The European Commission has selected 46 new strategic projects to strengthen the EU’s supply of critical raw materials. Silmet is among them, a designation that could help the company find funding and investors and speed up planning, said Ave Schank-Lukas, head of the European Commission’s Representation in Estonia.

Silmet was built during the Soviet era to process raw material supplied by a plant in Solikamsk, Russia, into high-value rare earth metals. The Estonian Foreign Ministry has explored alternative sources in Latin America, Asia and Africa, but says it remains unclear whether Silmet’s current technology can process material from other countries.

Material from the Solikamsk plant was expected to be added to the list of sanctioned products, but the EU left it out of its latest sanctions package at Estonia’s request. The article says that decision is unlikely to remain in place. Silmet’s current management did not comment on the plant’s future.

Former Silmet development director Jane Pajo said the plant’s basic technology is flexible enough to process material from other sources, provided its composition is sufficiently similar to the current feedstock. She said the company could develop other parts of the process, but that it could take five years or more if an investor were confident the work could be done at the plant.

Switching suppliers would also require Estonia to address naturally occurring radionuclides in rare earths. At the Solikamsk plant, these are separated and the radioactive material remains in Russia.