Ispra database reveals rare earth deposits in Italy: a map of national mineral resources

To make the energy and digital transition without depending too much on foreign countries (i.e. China), Italy must reopen its mines. This is the message, not even that implicit, that comes out of the database of national mineral resources published by Ispra, the research institute of the Ministry of the Environment. The Gemma (Geological, Mining and Environmental) database was prepared by Ispra in view of the drafting of the National Mining Programme, imposed this year by the EU with the Critical Raw Materials Act.

With this regulation, the Union has identified 34 critical raw materials for the green and digital transition, and has stipulated that the individual states should survey their deposits and start possible extraction. In Italy there are currently 76 mines, but only 2 of the critical materials are extracted: feldspar (20 mines) and fuorite (2 mines, at Bracciano in Lazio and Silius in Sardinia). In our country, however, there are numerous deposits of other 'rare earths' for the green and digital transitions, and they could be exploited to reduce dependence on foreign countries: lithium, copper, manganese, tungsten, cobalt, magnesite, titanium, bauxite, strontium, barite, graphite. 'In light of new exploration techniques and market price trends,' Ispra writes in the report, 'many of the known deposits should be re-evaluated'. Other critical raw materials, the institute notes, could come from recycling the waste from old mines: 150 million cubic metres of materials, which today are often polluting waste, and could instead become a resource.

But where in Italy are these rare earths? In the Ligurian-Emilian Apennines, the Western Alps, Trentino, Carnia and Sardinia, copper is found. Deposits of tungsten exist in Calabria, Sardinia and the Alps. In Piedmont and Sardinia there is cobalt, in Tuscany magnesite and in the Venetian Pre-Alps magnesite salts. A titanium mega-field is located under the Beigua natural park in the Savona area, the bauxites from which aluminium is extracted are in Sardinia, Apulia and the central Apennines. Strontium is found in the Sicilian sulphur mines, while lithium has been discovered in the geothermal fluids of Tuscany, Lazio and Campania. barite was found in the Bergamo, Brescia and Trentino areas, graphite in the Turin, Savona and Sila areas.

"The goal of the government and Mase is to re-launch the Italian mining sector,' said Deputy Minister for the Environment, Vannia Gava, 'through simplified authorisation procedures for strategic projects, with procedures no longer than 18 months for extraction and 10 months for recycling. The decree-law on critical raw materials, which will be further strengthened during conversion, goes in this direction'.