The assurance of future raw materials supply to the EU mineral industry has become, in recent years, one of the priority tasks of the EU Commission, geological surveys and several research centers. After many years of negligence, the problem of developing supply risk of many raw materials in Europe has been perceived, along with the menace to the EU economy competitiveness coming from dynamically developing countries such as China, India and others - basically of Asian origin. This has initiated a new mineral policy within the EU zone, referring mainly to non-fuels. One of the starting points for this activity has become the assessment of the EU mineral resources potential and identification of the raw materials that are critical for the harmonious and sustainable development and technological progress. The paper briefly presents the results of research work focused on the critical raw materials assessment, which were conducted by the Initiative for the Raw Materials Supply. Its core is the presentation of Polish mineral reserve base and its potential as a possible source of critical raw materials for the European Union. The criticality analysis was based on three categories, i.e.: economic consequences of the supply limitation, supply risk of reduction (fluctuation or disruption), and environmental risk referring to countries with weak environmental performance in order to protect the environment that jeopardize the supply of raw materials to the EU. For their quantitative assessment there were proposed three aggregated indices, while for the forecast purposes - 10-year period. The criticality ratio was determined for the 41 most important and most frequently used raw materials. On the grounds of the research made up to now, these raw materials were preliminary divided into three groups. As a critical to the EU economy, 14 raw materials of major economic importance were discriminated, i.e.: antimony, beryllium, cobalt, fluorite, gallium, germanium, graphite, indium, magnesium, niobium, PGM, rare earths, tantalum, and tungsten. They are characterized by high supply risk, which is mainly due to limited number of their sources - dominated by a few countries, in particular China. The risk of supply disruptions is boosted by low rate of utilization of secondary sources, and limited scale of substitution as well. The majority of the above-mentioned raw materials are crucial for the new technologies development. The remaining minerals arealso - though to a lesser extent - imperiled with a supply deficit. Despite they are also of economic importance, their indispensability for the advanced technologies development is relatively smaller. Taking into account the raw materials that are critical for the European Union economy, Poland cannot be considered as its resource base. The source of these raw materials are not only scarce in Poland, but also they are not produced, and their demand is now - and according to forecasts is going to be in the future - met by imports. However, the role of our country as a manufacturer of finished products from components of foreign origin is anticipated to increase. The raw materials in question are not considered exactly critical for Polish economy, as any industrial branch based upon their utilization has emerged so far. Therefore, they are of limited economic importance. Presumable utilization of very limited sources of above-mentioned critical raw materials in Poland could be anticipated in a perspective of at least 20 years. The most probable in this respect are the following: opening out the new Mo-W-Cu ore deposit Myszków, and the promotion of exploration works for similar deposits.

The Polish basis of dolomites is remarkable. Their total reserves reported in the 62 deposits listed in current data bases of mineral resources amount to 1,500,000 t. However, there is a shortage of the so-called converter dolomites of high quality applicable in manufacturing of refractory materials. Such dolomites of the Triassic age have been quarried for many years in the Brudzowice and Ząbkowice Śląskie I deposits in the Silesian-Cracow region. The Libiąż deposit is perspective of this area, considering the character and properties of its dolomites. The dolomites of the Nowa Wioska and Stare Gliny deposits belong into the same group although their applying as refractories seems to be disputable at the moment and would require more detailed analyses of the chemical composition and firing properties of the rocks mentioned. The reason is that the dolomites of these deposits have been reported andmassively quarried up to now mainly for civil engineering (roads, buildings, etc.). Unfortunately, worsening properties of the dolomites occurring in Żelatowa, still another large and developed deposit of the region, have been excluded using these rocks in producing of refractories. Among the group of reserve converter dolomite deposits, the best rock properties have been found in four of them, i.e., Chruszczobród, Chruszczobród I, Chruszczobród II and Libiąż Wielki. The survey presented indicates that there are some possibilities of including dolomites of the Winna and, to a lesser degree, Radkowice-Podwole deposits as the raw materials in manufacturing of refractories. Again, more detailed analyses of the chemical composition and petrographical development, mainly of the grain size distribution, would be required. Dolomitic marbles of the Lower Silesia region represent a separate problem. Traditionally, they have been considered to be non-applicable in manufacturing of refractories because of too coarse grain size of these rocks. It should be stressed, however, that the Lower Silesian marbles occur in several varieties and among them also fineand coarse-grained dolomites occur. Their finest and chemically purest varieties can be an interesting option in extending the basis of refractory dolomitic raw materials in Poland, although selective quarrying would be required in such a case.

The lithium market has experienced an unprecedented boom in recent years like a “golden age” and is one of the fastest growing raw material markets in the world. The fast growing demand for lithium is mainly related to the increase in the production of lithium-ion batteries used in electric or hybrid vehicles and portable electronic equipment, and to a lesser extent, in other strategic fields (military, nuclear technologies). This was reflected in a significant change in the structure of consumption, an increase in international trade and in the price of lithium raw materials. Moreover, in 2018 lithium was listed as a critical element for the national security and economy of the United States, and in 2020 it was also listed as a critical raw material for the European Union economy. It is also a time of increased exploration for new deposits, as well as mining processing and recycling. As a result, global lithium reserves have doubled in the last six years. All this prompted the authors to prepare an article in which the sources of lithium minerals and their resources, the basic factors determining the economic situation on the market, their prices and the possibilities of recycling and substitution are presented and assessed. Attention is also paid to the role of companies operating in Poland as significant partners on the European market of lithium-ion batteries. Lithium oxide and hydroxide and lithium carbonate are the main lithium raw materials used in Poland. In the absence of the country having its own deposits, they are imported, and the main suppliers are Chile, Western European countries and Russia.