Highlights

• EIT RawMaterials invested €0.5 million in Greenland Resources for a pilot project focusing on magnesium extraction from saline process water at the Malmbjerg molybdenum project.
• The initiative aims to address Europe's 95–97% dependency on Chinese magnesium supply.
• The project holds a 30-year exploitation license.
• The pilot seeks to recover magnesium from mine effluent and by-product streams.
• It aligns with the EU's Critical Raw Materials Act goals for decarbonization and supply diversification.
• The project is strategically significant as a model for by-product recovery and EU-aligned Arctic sourcing.
• This €0.5M pilot represents optionality rather than immediate large-scale production, with no disclosed volumes or timelines yet.

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EIT RawMaterials (opens in a new tab) has taken a small but symbolic step in Europe’s magnesium problem, investing €0.5 million in Greenland Resources A/S (opens in a new tab) to pilot low-carbon magnesium recovery at the Malmbjerg molybdenum project (opens in a new tab) in east-central Greenland.

A critical minerals focus, this project aims to extract magnesium from saline process water and later from primary ore, turning what is essentially mine effluent and by-product into a new stream of EU-linked magnesium supply.

Mapping alteration minerals at Malmbjerg molybdenum deposit

Greenland Resources already holds a 30-year exploitation license for molybdenum and magnesium, granted in June 2025, giving this pilot a real permitting foundation rather than pure lab fantasy.

For Brussels, the strategic pitch writes itself: Europe consumes roughly 145,000 tonnes of magnesium a year and depends on China for 95–97% of its supply. Magnesium is now designated both critical and strategic under the Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA), and the EU wants diversified, lower-carbon sources. This cheque, while tiny, ticks every policy box: decarbonization, circularity, allied jurisdiction, CRMA compliance.

From Press Release Poetry to Hard Tonnage

Strip away the marketing language, and several facts hold up in this case. First, the underlying fundamentals in the announcement do check out. The funding and equity terms are fully disclosed, and the pilot is designed to evaluate magnesium recovery from roughly 35,000 m³ per day of saline process water containing about 900 ppm magnesium, along with additional magnesium present in the molybdenum concentrate. Malmbjerg itself is already a DFS-level, EU-supported molybdenum project, one that has been positioned in previous filings as capable of supplying up to a quarter of Europe’s molybdenum demand once in production.

Where the prose edges into speculation is the implied scale and timing. A €0.5m pilot cannot, on its own, “fix” Europe’s magnesium dependency. No production volumes, cost curves, or timelines are provided, and magnesium economics are only “aimed” to be included in a future feasibility update. This is optionality, not yet a business.

Bias is understandable: EIT RawMaterials and Greenland Resources both emphasize “strategic independence” and “mission-critical” status. The tone is resolutely optimistic, but there is no obvious misinformation—just the usual EU industrial-policy glow.

Why This Matters for the Rare Earth & Critical Minerals Crowd

For Rare Earth Exchanges readers, the real signal is model, not magnitude. This is the EU experimenting with:

• By-product and process-water recovery as a serious supply strategy;
• Using small equity tickets to “credentialize” projects ahead of much larger CRMA and Horizon Europe capital;
• Testing Arctic, EU-aligned jurisdictions as alternatives to Chinese metal.

If the magnesium pilot works and folds into Malmbjerg’s economics, Greenland Resources gains a valuable second revenue leg in a critical metal. If not, investors should remember: this is still mainly a molybdenum story with a magnesium call option, not the other way around.

Source: EIT RawMaterials press release, Nov. 11, 2025; Greenland Resources / Business Wire, Nov. 2025; supporting market data as cited.

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