Australian Company Acquires Penouta Mine, Securing EU's Tantalum and Niobium Supply

【SMM Tantalum & Niobium Express】On July 1,2026, the regional government of Galicia, Spain, officially approved the transfer of the Class C mining concession for the Penouta Mine in the province of Ourense to Energy Transition Minerals (ETM), an Australia-based company listed on the Australian Securities Exchange. The mine thus becomes the only domestic primary tantalum and niobium supply base within the European Union. The finalization of this mining right marks the completion of asset revitalization for the Penouta Mine, freeing it from the bankruptcy liquidation predicament of its former operator, Strategic Minerals Spain, which suspended mine production in October 2024.

Global niobium resources are mainly produced in Brazil, while tantalum ores are concentrated in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda, making traceability control of minerals from these regions extremely difficult; meanwhile, the tantalum and niobium smelting and processing industry is highly concentrated in China. As critical core metals for the semiconductor, aerospace alloy, and new energy industries, the supply of tantalum and niobium is significantly affected by fluctuations in the China-Africa supply chain, and recent tantalum prices have hit a multi-decade high.

The Penouta Mine will provide the European Union with a locally compliant, traceable and transparent supply channel for critical minerals, fully aligning with the requirements of the EU's Critical Raw Materials Act — which mandates reducing reliance on a single foreign mineral source to below 65% by 2030 and rebuilding a domestic mining and processing industrial chain.

ETM completed the acquisition of the mine for 5.2 million euros, and concurrently secured a strategic capital injection of 10 million Australian dollars from its shareowners. The mining area retains an open-pit stope and a complete mineral processing production line, with historical infrastructure investment totaling 28 million euros. The enterprise has finalized a full-process operation plan, and aims to achieve full commercialized monetization and production of tantalum, niobium and tin concentrates by 2027.