12 1 An integrated network of operations Europe s nonferrous metals industry is an intricate ecosystem of mining smelting trans formation refning and recycling operations across the continent With around 500 000 employees across over 900 facilities it produces and recycles the base precious specialty metals demanded by Europe s lowcarbon value chains of the future 13 Europe is mostly dependent on imports of its primary raw materials accounting for only 1 of global mining production for base metals while primary smelting and refning operations account for 6 of the global total but are increasingly pressurised by global competition trade imbalances Europe s metals recycling industry however is a real worldleader with a 24 mark et share although other regions are making signifcant investments into new capacity 14 The nonferrous metals sector is an ecosystem in itself given the strong interlink ages between diverse metals during smelting refning and recycling processes Metal ores consist of various elements that commonly coe xist which means that during refning of base metals a number of coelements may be separated so long as their value out weighs the cost R ecovery also happens in recycling processes which provide secondary raw materials 12 Introducing the Metals Ecosystem 120 billion annual turnover 500 000 persons directly employed 90 0 facilities across Europe EXTRA CTION Mining metal ores from the surface of the earth and separating them into concentrates SMEL TINGREFINING T reating primary ores and concentrates to separate the metals and rene into a purer form TRANSFORMA TION Processing pure metal into seminished and nished products e g sheets rods e xtrusion REC Y CLING T reating rening secondary raw material e g scrap products of world total 1 of world total 6 gures not currently available of world total 2 4 Al 0 6 Cu 4 1 Ni 30 Pb 9 7 Zn 54 Al 40 Cu 13 1 Ni 9 6 Pb 9 4 Zn 134 Al 30 Cu 23 Ni 29 Pb 18 Zn 19 Share of global production per metal 13 Eurometaux 14 European Aluminium European Copper Institute International Zinc S tudy Group International L ead Association Nick el Institute Around 7 including EFT A Source Eurometaux aggregated global share for Europe s base metals capacity aluminium copper lead nick el zinc Nonferrous base metals produced andor recycled in the EU MET ALS IN A CLIMA TE NEUTRAL EUROPE A 2050 BL UEPRINT 10