The global energy transition is being built on more than wind, waves, and ambitious climate targets — and behind every new renewable energy project are several critical minerals and materials.
Skyborn Renewables’ financial close on the €3 billion ($4.86 billion) Gennaker offshore wind project in Germany’s Baltic Sea highlights the scale of investment driving Europe’s clean energy ambitions.
Developed with Stadtwerke München, which holds a 25% stake, Gennaker will comprise 63 Siemens Gamesa 15 megawatt (MW) turbines. Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Uniper (ETR:UNO) will also sign long-term power purchase agreements covering 600MW and 100MW, respectively.
However, as the 976.5MW project moves towards construction, with operations to begin at the end of 2028, it also highlights a fundamental reality: mining companies are central to building the technologies that will power the next generation of industry.
Offshore wind farms require about 15.5 tonnes of critical minerals and metals per megawatt of capacity. The key critical minerals used in manufacturing wind farms include copper, cobalt, nickel, lithium, rare earths, chromium, zinc, platinum group metals, and aluminium.
Copper: Chile takes centre stage
For mining companies exploring for the minerals needed to build the next generation of wind farms, Europe’s accelerating offshore wind ambitions present an opportunity.
As more projects move from planning to construction, these companies could play a key role in strengthening supply chains, meeting future demand, and supporting Europe’s transition to cleaner energy.
Europe produces a small share of the world’s mined critical minerals. As such, the continent relies heavily on copper recycling and imports.
Chile is the world’s largest copper producer, accounting for roughly 28% of global production. At the same time, the nation is also a significant copper exporter to the EU. In 2025, EU copper imports from Chile reached US$2.2 billion ($3.08 billion).
On the exploration front, companies such as Lodestar Minerals (ASX:LSR) are helping to support continued momentum of Chilean copper production.
Lodestar’s Los Loros and Three Saints projects lie within one of the world’s largest iron oxide copper-gold (IOCG) belts in Chile, which includes the 1.2 billion tonnes (Bt) @ 0.60% copper (Cu) Candelaria deposit.
At Three Saints, the company recently revised exploration targeting, following assays that revealed information about a concealed mineralised system. Lodestar intends to reprocess existing geophysical data using results from its first two holes, aiming to trace mineralised structures towards volcanic and sedimentary rocks it considers more favourable hosts.
CEO Coraline Blaud says the results provide direction for further exploration.
“The first two drill holes confirmed copper-gold mineralisation and a strong alteration assemblage consistent with an IOCG system,” Blaud says.
“Importantly, the second hole intersected skarn alteration accompanied by cobalt mineralisation, providing an important geological vector towards potentially more favourable host rocks.”
Late last month, Lodestar also expanded its copper footprint in Chile, after entering into an option agreement to acquire the Pacifico Project.
Pacifico sits 42km north of the Relincho deposit owned by NuevaUnión, a joint venture between Teck Resources (NYSE:TECK) and Newmont (NYSE:NEM). Relincho holds reserves of 1.1Bt at 0.41% Cu and 0.021% molybdenum.
It also features more than 42km of existing tracks and is proximal to the Pan-American Highway, enabling year-round access to the three main target areas.
Copper: A growing global market
Australia is another significant copper producer, accounting for around 700,000 to 780,000 tonnes of copper each year.
In 2025, Australia’s total copper exports reached US$4.83 billion, with Belgium, Germany, and the UK being the primary destinations for Australian copper products.
Anax Metals (ASX:ANX) is one of the many companies supporting the present and future global copper supply through its Whim Creek Copper-Zinc Project in Western Australia’s Pilbara region.
With a $723 million pre-tax cash flow over a 10-year mine life, the Whim Creek Project has a net present value of $501 million and a 98% internal rate of return (IRR).
Whim Creek has a total reserve of 4.6 million tonnes (Mt) @ 1.36% Cu, with the potential to produce between 10,000 and 12,000 tonnes of copper equivalent per year.
Recently, the company began a Feasibility Study assessing whether heap leaching could add a second processing stream to its planned Whim Creek copper concentrator.
The study is expected to be completed in Q1 2027 and will upgrade Anax’s existing September 2023 Whim Creek heap leach Scoping Study.
Lithium: Opportunities for Australian explorers
Europe currently produces less than 0.1% of the world’s battery-grade lithium, meaning the continent largely relies on imports from Australia, Chile, and China.
The Australia-EU trade corridor for lithium is undergoing a transformation following the conclusion of the Free Trade Agreement in March 2026, which removes tariffs of up to 5.3% on lithium hydroxide.
With the growing demand for wind farms and other renewable technologies, alongside the enhancement of trade and investment between Australia and the EU, explorers are well-positioned to capitalise on opportunities to identify new economically viable mineral deposits.
Albright Metals (ASX:ABR) owns the Lake Johnston Lithium-Nickel Project in WA. The exploration ground lies 110km east of the Mount Holland lithium mine, which has an expected annual output of 380,000 tonnes of spodumene concentrate.
Discoveries by TG Metals (ASX:TG6) and Rio Tinto’s (ASX:RIO) exploration transaction with Charger Metals (ASX:CHR) also highlight the lithium prospectivity of the Lake Johnston region.
TG Metals owns the Burmeister lithium deposit in WA, which contains a resource of 6.7Mt @ 1.18% lithium oxide.
As previously reported, diamond drilling was undertaken in August to produce spodumene-rich samples for potential direct shipping ore (DSO) customers. The recovered core will be cut, scanned, crushed, and screened before being provided to interested customers, while quarter-core samples will undergo laboratory analysis.
“With the initial DSO pit shell taking in 6.7Mt, Burmeister would potentially be the largest DSO open pit lithium development in Australia,” CEO David Selfe says.
Cobalt: Domestic projects in focus
Regarding cobalt, Europe extracts a very small amount domestically, with Finland serving as the sole source of mine production within the EU.
Latitude 66 (ASX:LAT) is one of the few companies exploring for cobalt in Finland at the Kuusamo Schist Belt (KSB) Project, which contains a resource of 7.3Mt @ 2.7 grams per tonne gold (Au) for 650,000 ounces and 0.08% cobalt (Co) for 5,840 tonnes.
A recent 2026 Scoping Study highlights the project as a standalone gold-cobalt operation over a 7.5-year period, targeting an average annual production of 65,000 ounces of Au and 475 tonnes of Co.
The study also delivered a post-tax net present value of US$485 million and an 85% IRR.
“What makes KSB unique is its strategic dual-value proposition with robust gold economics delivering a bottom-quartile all-in sustaining cost, while simultaneously positioning Latitude to become a key European cobalt supplier in alignment with the EU’s Critical Raw Materials Act,” Managing Director Grant Coyle says.
Latitude 66 plans to advance the project to a Prefeasibility Study focused on expansion potential and operational enhancement. Drilling will also begin on near-mine extensional targets, with initial financing interest received from European critical mineral funding groups.
Rare earths: Untapped mineral potential
Europe currently has no active rare earth mines, relying largely on imports to meet its rare earth magnet requirements. Despite having no active mines, the continent hosts several massive unexploited deposits.
For example, Dalaroo Metals’ (ASX:DAL) Blue Lagoon Project, located in Southern Greenland, contains zirconium, hafnium, rare earths, and niobium.
In July, the company conducted its largest exploration program to date at the project, uncovering four new targets and expanding the prospective footprint by 34km².
CEO John Morgan says the culmination of the 2026 field program marks a significant milestone in the evolution of the project.
“What began as a highly encouraging heavy mineral discovery in 2025 has now evolved into a much clearer understanding of the geological system responsible for generating those mineralised sediments,” Morgan says.
“We have systematically mapped the intrusive source rocks, identified multiple generations of alkaline granites and pegmatites, completed extensive structural mapping, confirmed several new regional rare earth element targets, undertaken comprehensive [ground-penetrating radar] and bathymetric surveys, and completed one of the most extensive sampling programs ever conducted across the project.”
Through the surveys, Dalaroo mapped sediment accumulations up to 50m thick at Blue Lagoon. The latest work at Blue Lagoon shows that the sedimentary environments are substantially thicker than originally understood.
As Europe’s renewable energy ambitions gather momentum, the mining industry’s role in supplying the critical minerals needed to bring projects like Skyborn Renewables’ Gennaker offshore wind farm to life will only become more important.
For explorers all around the world, this presents an opportunity to discover and develop the resources needed to strengthen supply chains, support the energy transition, and meet global demand.
Write to Aaliyah Rogan at Mining.com.au
Main image: Skyborn Renewables
