The European Union set itself a target of mining a tenth of the critical minerals it uses by 2030. With four years to go, it mines almost none of the lithium that its battery factories consume.
The deposits exist. Projects in Portugal, Serbia, Germany and Finland have proven reserves that together could cover much of the bloc's projected demand. What they lack is permits.
A review by this newspaper of 14 proposed mines found that the median project had been in the permitting process for 11 years, with the longest at 19. In the same period, battery plants built on the assumption of local supply have opened and begun importing from Australia and Chile.
“We were told to build the factories and the mines would follow,” said one battery executive. “The mines did not follow.”
A regulation passed last year was meant to cap approval times at 27 months for strategic projects. So far, no project has completed the new process.
A version of this article appears in print on Oct. 11, 2026, Section B, Page 9 of the European edition with the headline: Europe's Lithium Problem Is Not Geology. It Is Paperwork..
