| Critical material | Main end-use markets in Europe |
| Antimony (Stibium) | Flame retardants, batteries, plastics, glass, semiconductors and alloys. |
| Beryllium | Consumer electronics and telecommunication products, engineering/construction, ceramics, speciality applications such as medical devices, physical instruments & use in the efforts to develop controlled nuclear fusion reactors. |
| Borates | Borates are used in a wide range of glass applications, in agriculture (it’s an essential micronutrient) and are also used as a wood preservative, in cleaning and detergents, ceramics and metallurgy. |
| Chromium | Metallurgy – its corrosion resistance properties means it is important in sectors such as aerospace; refractories and foundries, catalysts, pigments and emerging technologies such as seawater desalination and orthopaedic implants. |
| Cobalt (Cobaltum) | Batteries, biotechnology, superalloys, catalysts, hard metals (for metal cutting, drilling, mining and construction) and autocatalysts for emissions control. Lots of new applications expected as it can be used to catalyse the gas to liquid process. |
| Coking coal | Mainly used in steel production with smaller quantities being used in other metallurgy and niche markets. |
| Fluorspar (Fluorite) | Used in the production of chemicals, steel and aluminium. Also used in glass & ceramic industry and in the production of magnesium, calcium metal and high quality optics such as cameras and telescopes. |
| Gallium | Integrated circuits (in smartphones, wireless communications, aerospace & defence), light emitting diodes (computer screens, mobile phones, LED televisions, lighting, automotive applications), laser diodes (medical technology, telecommunications, entertainment i.e. blue-ray DVDs). PV (solar energy cells). |
| Germanium | Fibre optics (broadband), infrared optics (i.e. night-vision optics for defence, advanced fire fighting equipment, satellite imagery sensors, medical diagnostics), in the manufacturer of PET plastics used in bottles, sheet, film and textiles, solar cells in space-based applications such as satellites, and as semiconductors in some LEDs for cameras, smartphones screens. May also replace silicon in high speed telecommunications. |
| Indium | Flat panel devices (monitors, notebooks, mobile phones), solders (important as lead solder is being increasingly banned), low-melting point alloys (fuses and plugs in fire control systems), PV (solar energy cells). |
| Magnesite | Refractories. Also used in some environmental applications, in animal feed and fertilisers and in construction. |
| Magnesium | Aluminium alloys and die casting, used when making automotive and aerospace components, as well as in defence application and consumer goods such as computers and mobile phones. |
| Natural graphite | Most of graphite usage today is in refractory applications. Other key industrial applications for graphite include lubricants, steelmaking, metal casting, brake linings. Due to its combination of conductivity and high thermal stability, graphite is also used in fuel cells, batteries and pebble bed nuclear reactors. An important emerging use for graphite is for lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries used in hybrid and electric vehicles. Future demand for graphite will increase significantly when electric vehicles gain market momentum. |
| Niobium | Niobium is mainly used in the manufacture of steel for construction and high temperature applications. Recently, high-strength and low-alloy steels for automobile industry, pylons, offshore platforms and pipelines have become a more important use of niobium. |
| Phosphate rock | Phosphorus is vital for all living things, plants and animals. The growing world population and thus, the growing need for food leads to an increased demand for phosphate fertilizers for agriculture. |
| Platinum group metals* | Platinum and palladium are the most common PGMs and have the total largest market size. The other PGMs are rarer, and consequently are not as widely used. The largest application for the PGMs, specifically palladium, platinum and rhodium, is in autocatalysts for emissions control. They are also used in electronics, jewellery, glass, in medical applications such as medical scanners, sensors and drugs and as investments. |
| Rare earth elements (Light and Heavy)* | Magnets, batteries, metallurgy, catalysts, polishing powders, glass additives, LCD screens, fibre optics, lasers, ceramics. Needed in applications such as hybrid and electric vehicle, wind turbines, energy efficient lighting. |
| Silicon metal (Silicium) | Silicon is used extensively in electronic devices such as transistors, printed circuit boards, integrated circuits and solar panels. Although silicon plays an important role in electronics, the quantities required are relatively small due to the small dimensions of electronic devices. The major uses of silicon by quantity are in metallurgy, such as the production of aluminium, and in the chemical industry. |
| Tungsten (Wolframium) | Tungsten carbide is one of the hardest materials. Due to this characteristic, it is used for cutting tools which represents the largest use of the element tungsten. |