Name T op Mining Country Country R ank 13 Bauxite T op Global Mining Countries A ustralia 29 China 18 Brazil 13 EU Import P artners Guinea 72 Brazil 12 Sierra L eone 8 Copper T op Global Mining Countries Chile 32 China 9 P eru 8 EU Import P artners Chile 26 P eru 23 Brazil 11 Nick el T op Global Mining Countries Indonesia Philippines New CaledoniaRussia EU Import P artners Guatemala 85 7 Canada 124 South A frica 3 Zinc T op Global Mining Countries China 35 A ustralia12 P eru 10 EU Import P artners A ustralia 33 P eru 23 US A 17 L ead T op Global Mining Countries China 49 A ustralia 14 US A 7 EU Import P artners A ustralia 11 Macedonia 11 P eru 9 Tin T op Global Mining Countries China 45 Indonesia 19 Malaysia 10 EU Import P artners Bolivia 238 Malaysia 16 7 US A 165 Cobalt Oxides hydro xides chlorides mattes intermediate products unwrought metal and powders T op Metal Producers China 45 EU 18 Canada 6 EU Import P artners DRC 49 US ANorway 8 Russia 7 Gold T op Global Mining Countries China 14 A ustralia 9 Russia US A 8 EU Import P artners South A frica 26 Other 9 Silver T op Global Mining Countries Me xico 21 P eruChina 14 A ustralia 7 EU Import P artners P eru 51 Me xico 17 Argentina 9 Platinum T op Global Mining Countries South A frica 72 Russia 12 Zimbabwe 8 EU Import P artners US A 37 S witzerland 8 Japan 6 Bismuth T op Global Mining Countries China 57 Me xico 22 Japan 16 EU Import P artners China 84 P eruS AUS A 3 JapanCanada 2 Chromium T op Global Mining Countries South A frica 48 K azakhstan 21 T urk ey 13 Ferrochromium EU Import P artners South A frica 60 RussiaZimbabwe 8 K azakhstan 4 Rhenium T op Global Mining Countries Chile 43 US A 19 P oland 16 EU Import P artners IranSouth K oreaUzbekistan 6 Lithium T op Global Mining Countries Chile 44 A ustralia 32 Argentina 11 Lithium compounds EU Import P artners Chile 77 US A 10 China 6 Manganese T op Global Mining Countries China 9 South A frica 20 A ustralia 14 Ores Concentrates EU Import P artners South A frica 33 Brazil 31 Gabon 26 Molybdenum mined T op Global Mining Countries China 42 US A 23 Chile 15 EU Import P artners US A 57 Chile 15 P eru 14 Antimony T op Global Mining Countries China 73 T ajikistan 10 Russia 4 Unwrought metal EU Import P artners China 90 Vietnam 4 K yrgyzstan 2 T able 3 T op 3 metalsores producing countries and top 3 EU import partners Figures for 2016 Source European Commission 2017 ab BGS Tin Source R esource T rade Earth Nick el Mining 2019 Source Da Silva 2019 Despite the predominance of China the EU has diverse import partners with the top countries being Russia and P eru 8 metals each and US A 7 metals Norway and China 4 metals each One of the reasons is that not only has China put in place e xport restrictions but has also imposed e xport tax es see Bo x 2 and Chapter 7 3 for more details 2526 Although the EU has maintained supply security and its dependence on China is not as yet dire in the near future the situation could turn drastically diferent It is important to note that the EU does not have a free trade agreement framework in place with any of its top trading partners which could provide not only greater supply security but also a reliable political and economic framework 27 322 The EU s import reliance and metals trade balance The EU has a large import dependency 28 as concerns base metal ores 84 for aluminium bauxite 29 82 for copper 78 for tin 71 for zinc concentrate 59 for copper 48 for cobalt with the e x ception of lead at 18 30 For silicon and ferroalloys imports contribute 73 of total consumption 31 In the case of other nonferrous metals ores the import depend ency is high most palpable for the platinum group of metals EU production 32 of platinum 0 5 tonnes palladium 0 4 tonnes beryllium bismuth EU production 0 8 tonnes niobium magnesium molybdenum EU production ferromolybdenum 11000 tonnes antimony although the EU does produce antimony trio xide in Belgium France Spain and Italy tantalum and rare earths where the EU production is close to 0 Needless to say the EU is not a signifcant e xporter or ores and primary metals In fact the EU has 100 import reliance for the vast majority of nonferrous metal ores Europe s 100 import reliance for several critical raw materials means that it is entirely dependent on third countries 25European Commission 2017ab 26It is worth noting that China is by far the largest EU import partner of downstream aluminium products 27The EU has recently reached accord on a longstanding free trade agreement negotiation with the MERCOSUR group of countries which has not yet entered into force 28Import dependency a metric derivable from EW MF A denotes the share of physical imports in the direct material input of a given economy the DMI comprisesdomestic e xtractionand physical imports 29The import dependency specifcally for primary aluminium is lower than 84 30Sector Data 31W yns Khandek ar R obson 2018 32Primary MET ALS IN A CLIMA TE NEUTRAL EUROPE A 2050 BL UEPRINT 24