ROME – Italy is renewing efforts to map and develop its mineral resources with its first major public geological research investment since the early 1990s, prioritising materials the European Commission defines as critical and strategic for the EU’s economy and security.
The €3.5 million initiative, led by the Italian Geological Survey under ISPRA, comes a year after the government passed a decree targeting critical raw materials. It includes 14 approved research projects nationwide and a comprehensive mapping of extractive waste deposits.
The programme aims to update Italy’s largely unknown mineral potential and offer preliminary guidance to investors on domestic raw material availability, according to a government statement.
Exploration efforts had stalled decades ago following widespread mine closures, deemed uneconomical at the time. But the energy transition has shifted priorities. With copper, lithium, and rare earth elements now essential to renewable technologies and digital infrastructure, Italy is keen to tap into local sources amid global supply chain pressures.
The focus will be on the raw materials the European Commission classifies as critical and strategic for the EU’s economic and national security.
Italian authorities will also focus on minerals vital to domestic industries, such as zeolites, widely used in construction and agriculture, which may not be on the European Commission’s critical raw materials list, but are considered essential to the national economy.