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Belgium

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Cite this profile

The sources listed are the ones this profile uses, with the years their figures describe. The access date is today.

Belgium has no mining or refining share on record for the ten materials. In 2024 it imported $3.3bn and exported $2.1bn of them, by value (CEPII BACI).

$3.3bn

imports of the ten materials in 2024, by value; most of it copper

ANNUAL 2024

  • Exports of the ten materials

    $2.1bn

    2024; most of it copper; 99 partner countries

  • Grid emissions intensity

    151gCO2e/kWh

    2025

  • Imports of the ten materials

    $3.3bn

    2024; most of it copper; 63 partner countries

  • Mining companies headquartered here

    44

    tagged in Wikidata, all commodities; coverage is uneven

OverviewSupply chainMoneySustainabilityRisks & policySourcesHistory & talk

Overview

Trade partners

2 recorded flows, 2024

Basemap: Natural Earth (public domain)
  • Recorded trade flow; a thicker line is a larger value
  • Belgium

Lines join the middle of each country. They are not shipping routes.

Recorded trade flows of Belgium: Nickel
PartnerMaterialYearValue, US$Source
Import fromNetherlandsNickelRefine2024$160M
Import fromCanadaNickelRefine2024$159M

Reconciled customs data (CEPII BACI), by value. The data holds only the largest flows of each material, so this is not the country’s full trade.

Key facts

Country code
BEL
GDP
$725bn (2025)
Mineral rents, share of GDP
0% (2021)
Ores and metals, share of goods exports
4.1% (2025)
Mining area, all commodities
2 km² (2019; rank 127 of 144)
Named in the sources as
Belgium-Luxembourg (...1998)

Money →Sustainability →Risks & policy →

Map

Basemap: Natural Earth (public domain)
  • Belgium

Sites are those in the open sources. A site missing here is missing from the sources, not from the world.

Supply chain

Every figure the sources give for this country, its trade partners per material, and where its sites are.

Production, refining and reserves

No data yet. No production, refining or reserves figure names this country.

Trade partners

2 recorded flows, 2024

Basemap: Natural Earth (public domain)
  • Recorded trade flow; a thicker line is a larger value
  • Belgium

Lines join the middle of each country. They are not shipping routes.

Recorded trade flows of Belgium: Nickel
PartnerMaterialYearValue, US$Source
Import fromNetherlandsNickelRefine2024$160M
Import fromCanadaNickelRefine2024$159M

Reconciled customs data (CEPII BACI), by value. The data holds only the largest flows of each material, so this is not the country’s full trade.

0 sites, deposits and projects on record are listed with the map in the Overview →

Money

What the trade data and the World Bank record in money terms. Every value is a reported figure with its own year.

All recorded trade flows of 2024 under the customs codes that isolate one of the ten materials, by value (CEPII BACI, reconciled estimates, current US dollars). Codes that mix several materials are left out, so trade in those materials is understated; gallium and germanium have no usable code at all. Each material lists its five largest partners. Why trade data blurs some materials

Exports of the ten materials

$2.1bnin 2024, with 99 partner countries

Imports of the ten materials

$3.3bnin 2024, with 63 partner countries

The economy around mining

World Bank indicators. Each has its own latest year, shown next to the value; mineral rents are often several years old.

  • GDP (current US$)

    $725bn

    Year 2025

  • Mineral rents (% of GDP)

    0%

    Year 2021

  • Ores and metals exports (% of merchandise exports)

    4.1%

    Year 2025

Government revenue from extractives

No data yet. Belgium has no EITI summary record with a government total. Countries report only if they implement the EITI Standard; a missing record does not mean there is no such revenue.

EITI open data

Investment pipeline

announced figures

Planned and under-construction projects in Belgium with a publicly announced capital cost, public financial backing, or both. Each line is one statement by the named publisher on the given date; the atlas adds nothing to it.

No data yet. The atlas has read no announcement of this kind for a project in Belgium. The list is short and hand-read; a missing project is missing from the list, not from the world.

A short, hand-read list, not a census: 19 projects in all. Announced amounts are not spending, a letter of interest or a conditional commitment is not a loan, and amounts stay in the currency of the announcement.

Public support instruments

Stockpiles, price floors, offtake and purchasing programmes and public funds of Belgium's government and of the European Union, as dated policy events of the type "public support". Each is one statement by its publisher.

  • 2025-12-03announced · European UnionFundannounced

    The Commission adopted the RESourceEU Action Plan: project financing, a European Critical Raw Materials Centre, joint purchasing through the Raw Materials Platform and a stockpiling pilot.

    EUR 3 bn · “up to €3 billion over the next 12 months”

    Covers: “critical raw materials, such as rare earth elements, cobalt or lithium” · Materials: Rare earths, Cobalt, Lithium

    European Union instrument; applies through membership

    The publisher's words: “The EU will mobilise up to €3 billion over the next 12 months to support concrete projects”
    5 further statements from the source

    adoption

    The publisher's words: “The European Commission has adopted today the RESourceEU Action Plan”

    European Critical Raw Materials Centre planned

    The publisher's words: “In early 2026, the Commission will set up a European Critical Raw Materials Centre”

    joint purchasing and offtake via the Raw Materials Platform

    The publisher's words: “the Raw Materials Platform will facilitate the efforts of the companies to aggregate demand, jointly purchase strategic raw materials and secure offtake agreements”

    stockpiling pilot

    The publisher's words: “with a pilot scheme set to become operational in early 2026”

    materials named

    The publisher's words: “secure the EU's supply of critical raw materials, such as rare earth elements, cobalt or lithium”

  • 2024-05-23in force from · European UnionJoint purchasingin force

    The Critical Raw Materials Act obliges the Commission to run a demand-aggregation and joint-purchasing system for strategic raw materials and to set a benchmark for strategic stocks.

    Covers: “strategic raw materials” · Materials: Cobalt, Copper, Gallium, Germanium, Lithium, Graphite, Nickel, Rare earths, Tungsten

    European Union instrument; applies through membership

    The publisher's words: “The Commission shall set up and operate a system to aggregate the demand of interested undertakings consuming strategic raw materials established in the Union”
    2 further statements from the source

    joint negotiation of purchases allowed (Article 25(5))

    The publisher's words: “may, on a transparent basis, jointly negotiate the purchase, including the prices or other terms and conditions of the purchasing agreement”

    coordination of strategic stocks (Article 23)

    The publisher's words: “shall adopt a benchmark indicating a safe level of Union strategic stocks of strategic raw materials”

Mining companies headquartered here · 44

Companies that Wikidata places in the mining industry with headquarters in Belgium, for every commodity, not only the ten materials. Wikidata is edited by volunteers: entries may be missing or out of date, and each name links to its item. A listing names an exchange and a ticker; it is not a price.

CompanyHeadquartersStock listingLEISource
UmicoreBrussels metropolitan areaEuronext Brussels: UMIOTC Markets Group: UMICF529900F3AIQECS8ZSV61
Belgo-KatangaBrussels——
Charbonnages André DumontBrussels——
Charbonnages de Helchteren & ZolderMorlanwelz-Mariemont——
Charbonnages de HouthaelenBrussels——
Coal Mine of EisdenBrussels——
Compagnie Belge des Mines, Minerais et MétauxBrussels——
Compagnie du KasaiBrussels——
Compagnie Générale des MinesBrussels——
Géomines S.A.Brussels; Liège——
Les Glaceries de la SambreAuvelais——
Mines d'Or Belgika 'Belgikaor'Brussels——
Mines d'Or de PorcecitoBrussels——
Mines de Cuivre de Maïdan-Pek 'Yougoslavie'Liège——
S.A. de Nebida pour l'Explotation de MinesBrussels——
SibelcoAntwerp——
Société anonyme des Charbonnages d'Abhooz et Bonne-Foi HarengLiège——
Société anonyme des Charbonnages d'Ans et de RocourLiège——
Société Anonyme des Charbonnages de BeeringenLimbourg——
Société Anonyme des Charbonnages de BernissartBernissart——
Société anonyme des Charbonnages de Bonne Espérance, Batterie, Bonne-Fin et VioletteLiège——
Société anonyme des Charbonnages de Gosson-KessalesLiège——
Société anonyme des Charbonnages de l'Espérance et Bonne-FortuneLiège——
Société anonyme des Charbonnages de la Grande BacnureLiège——
Société anonyme des Charbonnages de Patience et Beaujonc réunisLiège——
Société anonyme des Charbonnages de WéristerLiège——
Société anonyme des Charbonnages du Bois d'AvroyLiège——
Société anonyme des Charbonnages du BonnierLiège——
Société Anonyme des Charbonnages du Centre de JumetJumet——
Société anonyme des Charbonnages du HasardLiège—894500IP610QZW7C6P86
Société Anonyme des Charbonnages du Levant et des Produits du FlénuCuesmes——
Société Anonyme des Charbonnages du PoirierMontignies-sur-Sambre——
Société Anonyme des Charbonnages Unis de l'Ouest de MonsBoussu——
Société anonyme du Charbonnage de LonetteLiège——
Société Belge Industrielle et Minière du KatangaBrussels——
Société Commerciale et Minière de l'UéléBrussels——
Société Commerciale et Minière du CongoBrussels——
Société des Mines d’Or de Kilo-MotoBrussels——
Société Industrielle et Minière du Congo OrientalBrussels——
Société Minière de la TeleBrussels——
Société Minière du Kasaï———
Société Minière et Géologique du ZambèzeBrussels——
Universal Alliance of Diamond WorkersAntwerp——
Usine d'AthusTilleur——

These figures are informational, not financial advice.

Sustainability

Four indicators, the same on every profile. Each is a figure with its unit, year and source, or a plain statement that there is none.

  • Carbon

    Emissions intensity of the country's electricity grid.

    151gCO2e/kWh

    2025Reported

    Higher than 19% of the other 208 countries with a grid figure.

    • It describes the national grid, not mining or refining. Sites may run on their own power.

  • Water

    Share of the country's mine sites on record that lie in high or extremely high baseline water stress.

    No mine or brine site with a water-stress class is on record in this country.

    • Counted by site, not by tonnage: it is not a share of production.
    • "Arid and Low Water Use" is a class of its own in the source and is not counted as high.

  • Land

    Land visibly used by mining in the country, every commodity together.

    2km²

    2019Estimated

    Higher than 12% of the other 143 countries with a mapped mining area.

    • Rank 127 of 144 countries by area.
    • Mapped from satellite images for all mining in a country. It cannot be attributed to one material or one site.

  • Circularity

    Recycling's share of demand.

    Not available per country: recycling rates in the atlas are published per material, for the EU as a whole.

There is no overall score: the four figures measure different things and are not added up. How to read these figures

Risks & policy

Export controls in force

Compiled by USGS, effective January 2026. Not a live feed.

USGS Table 4 lists no export control by this country for the materials in the atlas.

Chokepoints at sea

The atlas has no record of which minerals pass through which sea passage, so no chokepoint figure is attached to this profile. Current ship counts for the main passages are on the Live page. Open the Live page

Gaps

What the atlas is missing for Belgium

Computed from the data. Each line names a record that exists and one that does not. It marks missing data, not missing industry.

None of the checks finds a missing record. That does not mean the record is complete.

  • Trade is partial by design: the atlas holds only each material's largest flows. 12 of them name this country.

Add dataAll gaps, across materials

Sources

Every source this profile uses, with its licence, the years its figures describe and how sure the figures are. Each chip on the profile opens the single record.

The mining-area figure comes from a share-alike source (CC-BY-SA-4.0). It is kept in its own file under that licence, apart from the rest of the atlas's data.

History & talk

Revision history and discussion are coming soon.

Every change to a figure will be listed here with its source, its credit and its review, and each profile will have a place to discuss it. Until then the data changes only when a source is updated, and every figure links to that source.

What can be contributed today

What we don't know yet

No open source we may use gives these figures. Nothing is estimated to fill them. If you know a public source, add it.

Type the name of a material, a country, a site or a company.