In-person roundtable
The December 2025 OSF–CEPS roundtable created space for a conversation on the strategic potential of secondary critical raw materials (CRM) in the Western Balkans. This follow-up event moves from framing to evidence. It focuses on three concrete pilot sites – Kurbnesh (Albania), Artana (Kosovo), and Probištip–Zletovo (North Macedonia) – each representing a different mineral composition, regulatory context, and investment readiness stage. The three sites have been characterised through a joint technical assessment carried out with EIT RawMaterials Regional Innovation Center, Elbasan, generating a first comparable evidence base on grades, volumes, recoverable fractions, environmental liabilities, and ownership status.
Building on this evidence, the roundtable will examine what it would take to qualify one or more of these sites as candidates for EU Strategic Project status under the Critical Raw Materials Act, and to align them with the financial and regulatory instruments available through the Western Balkans Investment Framework (WBIF), the Growth Plan for the Western Balkans and RESourceEU Action Plan. The discussion is designed as a working conversation among the European Commission, industry, financial institutions, regional governments, and civil society.
Objectives:
• Present a comparable evidence base on three Western Balkans tailings sites, including CRM content, estimated recoverable volumes, environmental and health risks, and current legal and ownership status.
• Identify the technical, regulatory, and financial gaps that currently separate these sites from the thresholds required for being eligible for EU Strategic Project recognition.
• Explore a concrete preparation roadmap on eligibility and application pathways, and on financing instruments that can de-risk early-stage secondary CRM recovery.
• Surface the conditions under which offtakers and downstream industries would consider these sites as part of their supply diversification strategies.
Expected outcomes:
• A shared reading, across EU institutions and regional governments, of what is technically sound and what still needs to be demonstrated at each of the three sites.
• An initial sequencing of the studies, permits, and governance steps required to bring any of the three sites to Strategic Project application stage.
• A clearer picture of which EU and IFI instruments can cover which stages of project preparation, from feasibility and environmental assessment through to pilot-scale recovery.
• Follow-up bilateral tracks with interested off-takers, industry associations, and financing institutions.
Participants:
The roundtable is designed for a working group of approximately 30 participants, under the Chatham House Rule, representing:
• European Commission and relevant services working on CRM, industrial policy, and enlargement.
• Governments of Albania, Kosovo, and North Macedonia – line ministries for economy, energy, environment, and mining.
• Industry and industry associations – including EIT RawMaterials, and selected downstream offtakers.
• International financial institutions and development banks counterparts.
• OECD and other multilateral partners working on investment, mining governance, and due diligence.
• Civil society and think tanks from the Western Balkans working on environmental governance and community impact.
• Civil society and think tanks from Brussels working on environmental governance and CRM circularity.
In collaboration with:
