Heinz Lehmann MDL

Ladies and gentlemen,

thank you for the invitation to attend this high level meeting on mining and metallurgy in the EU context.
A short remark of introduction first.

By trade I am a physicist and a long serving member of the Saxon state assembly.

Simultaneously, I have also represented the State of Saxony within the European Committee of the Regions for 9 years now.

In this capacity, I put forward the opinion on the future of the European industrial policy, which the Committee of the Regions plenary adopted after an intensive debate unanimously.

It claims that the regulations of the EU should make sure, that quality jobs can be created by industrial enterprises in all European regions.

Saxony has a long industrial history with ups and downs as you can imagine.
In the wake of the German reunification our economy collapsed.

In the fields of brown coal mining and textile industry we lost 10 thousands of jobs virtually overnight.

We had to start from scratch again.

The State of Saxony created an industry and entrepreneur friendly environment that, together with structural funds of the European Union, triggered a number of founding initiatives and attracted inward investment.

Therefore the average Saxon enterprise is less then 30 years old, innovative, flexible, knowledge-based and of small or medium size.
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Our strengths now are engineering, electronics, microchip production and mobility.

Currently we are working on our KET´s projects like electro mobility, autonomous driving, artificial intelligence and advanced materials.

Smart specialization is our principle.

But entering the new world of digitalization, coding and implementing the strategy “glass fiber to every home” is only one side of the coin.

In addition you need the necessary hard ware and the material this hardware is made of.

What during the last industrial revolution was coal and steel is now Lithium, Cobalt, Nickel, Manganese, Tungsten and Indium.

Of course, you can buy these materials on the global commodity markets.

We decided to adopt our Saxon Raw Material Strategy which stresses the development of our own resources.

We want to minimize our dependency on the raw material market, which leaves us vulnerable to disruptions and use our local expertise in mining and recycling, create regional value and secure jobs.

Saxon has been mining country for 1.000 years.

The first gold rush in our Ore-mountains region happened in the 12.century for Tin, Iron and Copper, the second one in the 15.century for Silver and the third in the 20.century for Uranium.

More than 25 percent of the nuclear weapon of the former Soviet Union, were built from yellow cake, extracted from the Ore Mountains.

Our mining policy is focused on innovation in the field of primary materials as well as from secondary sources, the creation of closed value chains, and sustainable technologies.

A number of technical universities, academics and non-university research institutes are committed to research and development, teaching students the capability and competence they need and raiseing the knowledge- based awareness of the importance of raw materials in developing our economy.

The Freiberg University of resources is our leading institution.

One of our key assets is the acceptance of ore-mining activities among the regional population.

The valorization of our domestic mineral wealth has made good progress. 61 exploration projects are currently approved, 20 of them are active, 3 on Lithium. The magnitude of our biggest Lithium deposit is 6,5 times the current annual Lithium requirement globally.

Several companies got licenses for exploration, extraction as well as mining proprietorship.

The following slides show you concrete activities in extending and maintaining the raw materials value chain.

A new Flourspar mine got opened. It is a model for advanced underground mining and preprocessing, smart processing and zero waste production.

Another case study is on Tin.

A company working profitable along the value chain from exploration to mine development, valorizing by-products, extensive composite research and environment friendly smelter technology.

One of our key projects is RHOSA 3.

It compiles all existing data connected with mining projects, geological resources, ancient and more modern technologies and makes it accessible for science, economy and administration.

In Saxony, we regard raw materials, its mining and metallurgy as regional innovation driver and are supportive of new projects.
You can see this on the chart.

Nevertheless there are challenges to be dealt with.

Tightened environmental legislation, extended rights of participation, lack of legal certainty, huge investment costs and long periods of amortizations are hampering the progress in raw material production.

We should not rest to address the potential areas of conflict.

Although we agree, that the exploration and utilization of our native European natural resources is essential for fostering digitalization and innovation in a reliable and sustainable way, we should do more to raise the awareness among the EU member states and the commission about.

I hope that our MIREU conference here in Leon, delivers new momentum and closes ranks between the mining regions.