Article entitled ‘if Belgium was a mine of gold, lithium, and other critical elements ? Actus RTBF – Décrypte – 5th July 2025

Carte : et si la Belgique etait une mine d'or … de lithium et autres metaux rares? Actus RTBF - Décrypte - 5th July 2025

Article published on the RTBF website (5th July 2025) about the idea of having in Belgium potential areas to mine gold, lithium and other critical elements ?

Extracted from the paper published in French

Phones, electric cars and battery-powered robots… the world increasingly needs so-called ‘critical’ raw materials. While the European Union currently imports these rare metals, in the future it will be relying in part on their extraction. Where are these raw materials found in Belgium? Take a deep dive into the subsoil of our flat country. Manganese and lithium in Stavelot, phosphate in Mons, lead and zinc along the Meuse, copper, bismuth and arsenic in the Brabant massif… this is not China or the Democratic Republic of Congo, but Belgium. Our soil contains these minerals, which are needed for the batteries we use in electronic devices such as our smartphones.

The paper and the interview on that subject has been published in the journal Trends-Tendances. You can retrieve the online document here.

Please note that the map illustrated below is the one used on the RTBF website while based on the one published by the Geological Survey of Belgium in the Critical Raw Materials Atlas of Belgium.