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France

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

France refined 1.1% (IEA) of the world's rare earths in 2025.

1.1%

of the world's rare earths refining in 2025, according to IEA

#4 in rare earths refiningANNUAL 2025

  • Materials with a production share

    1

    with a mining or refining share on record

  • Exports of the ten materials

    $839M

    2024; most of it copper; 99 partner countries

  • Grid emissions intensity

    41gCO2e/kWh

    2025

  • Imports of the ten materials

    $2.6bn

    2024; most of it copper; 73 partner countries

OverviewSupply chainMoneySustainabilityRisks & policySourcesHistory & talk

Overview

What it produces

Share of world output, per material and stage. Each bar is one source's figure; where two sources report the same stage, both are shown and never blended. A full-width bar would be 100%.

  • Rare earths· Refine

    • 1.1%#4 in rare earths refiningIEA, 2025 · 1 kt REE

      Rank 4 of the 5 countries with a figure in this IEA table.

Key facts

Country code
FRA
GDP
$3.37tn (2025)
Mineral rents, share of GDP
0% (2021)
Ores and metals, share of goods exports
2.3% (2025)
Mining area, all commodities
200 km² (2019; rank 45 of 144)

Money →Sustainability →Risks & policy →

Map

Basemap: Natural Earth (public domain)
  • France

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

Country in context

Rare earths: Refining (IEA), 2025. All rows come from the same table.

Country in context: Rare earths, Refining (IEA), 2025
Countrykt REEShare of worldSource
FranceThis country11.1 %
ChinaLargest producer in the table7583.3 %
World totalWorld total as the source gives it89–

Supply chain

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

Production, refining and reserves

The latest year of each series. Share is of the series total: the larger of the source world total and the sum of its rows. Rank counts only the countries that have a number in that series.

Production, refining and reserves: France
SeriesAmountShare of worldSource
Rare earths: Refining (IEA)2025 · IEA GCMO 2026 · rank 4 of 51 kt REE1.1 %

Trade partners

1 recorded flow, 2024

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

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

Recorded trade flows of France: Nickel
PartnerMaterialYearValue, US$Source
Import fromNorwayNickelRefine2024$205M

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

$839Min 2024, with 99 partner countries

Imports of the ten materials

$2.6bnin 2024, with 73 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$)

    $3.37tn

    Year 2025

  • Mineral rents (% of GDP)

    0%

    Year 2021

  • Ores and metals exports (% of merchandise exports)

    2.3%

    Year 2025

Government revenue from extractives

No data yet. France 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 France 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.

  • CAREMAGUnder constructionProcessing

    Caremag SAS · Lacq, in the south of France · Rare earths

    “ont posé la première pierre de l’usine Caremag” · status as printed on 2025-03-31

    Announced capital cost

    EUR 216 M2025-03-17

    financing secured to build the rare earth recycling and refining industrial facility in Lacq (printed as financing, not as a cost estimate) · Carester

    The publisher's words: “has secured €216 million to build its cutting-edge rare earth recycling and refining industrial facility in Lacq”
    Public backing

    • no amount statedStrategic project status · “recognised as Strategic Project (Commission Decision C(2025) 1904, annex item 7)” · 2025-03-25

      European Commission

      The publisher's words: “CAREMAG is an ongoing processing project in France. The project promoted by Caremag SAS”

    • EUR 106 MOther support · “subsidies and repayable advances granted under the France Relance and France 2030 project calls, as well as a Green Industry tax credit” · 2025-03-17

      French government

      The publisher's words: “this project is backed by €110 million from Japanese investors and €106 million from the French government”

  • EMILIPlannedMine and processing

    IMERYS Ceramics France and IMERYS Lithium France · Allier · Lithium

    “finalisation de l'étude de faisabilité définitive, jalon majeur prévu début 2027” · status as printed on 2026-02-11

    Announced capital cost

    No announced capital cost was read.

    Public backing

    • no amount statedStrategic project status · “recognised as Strategic Project (Commission Decision C(2025) 1904, annex item 12)” · 2025-03-25

      European Commission

      The publisher's words: “EMILI is an ongoing integrated extraction and processing project in France. The project promoted by IMERYS Ceramics France and IMERYS Lithium France”

    • EUR 50 MEquity · “prise de participation de l'État au capital du projet (annoncée)” · 2026-02-11

      État français (via Banque des Territoires, France 2030)

      The publisher's words: “L'investissement de l'État d'un montant de 50 millions d'euros”Our translation: “The State's investment of 50 million euros”

    • EUR 116 MGrant · “table column 'Innovation Fund grant (EUR million)'; project start 01/09/2026; covers the lithium hydroxide refinery plant” · 2026-11-01

      EU Innovation Fund

      The publisher's words: “01/09/2026 Imerys Holding | Imerys 2,332,289 116.0”

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 France'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 · 20

Companies that Wikidata places in the mining industry with headquarters in France, 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
Compagnie des Mines de GraissessacMontpellier——
Compagnie des Mines de Houille de CourrièresBilly-Montigny——
Compagnie des Mines de la PéronnièreLyon——
Compagnie des Mines de Roche-la-Molière et FirminyFirminy——
Compagnie des Mines de ValdonneMarseille——
Compagnie des Mines de Vicoigne, Nœux et DrocourtNœux-les-Mines——
Compagnie Houillère de BessègesBessèges——
Compagnie minière de CarmauxFrance——
Compagnie Minière du Congo Franc̜aisLyon——
ERAMET-SLNNew Caledonia——
Lorraine collieriesMetz——
Mines de Houille de BlanzyMontceau-les-Mines——
Mines de Kali Sainte-ThérèseMulhouse——
Société Anonyme des Mines de Bitume et d'Asphalte du CentreParis——
Société d'Études et d'Exploitations Minières de l'IndochineParis——
Société des Mines de LensLille——
Société des mines et fonderies de PontgibaudFrance——
Sociéte Houillère de LiévinLiévin——
Société Minière des Terres RougesParis——
Société Minière et Métallurgique du PérigordFumel——

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.

    41gCO2e/kWh

    2025Reported

    Higher than 6% 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.

    200km²

    2019Estimated

    Higher than 69% of the other 143 countries with a mapped mining area.

    • Rank 45 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 France

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

  • Listed as a rare earths refiner (1.1% of world output; Refining (IEA), 2025), but no processing plant is on record.
  • Trade is partial by design: the atlas holds only each material's largest flows. 18 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.