For decades, toxic mining deposits across the Western Balkans have poisoned rivers, contaminated land, and posed chronic health risks to nearby communities with zero economic return. OSF-WB’s CRM Reclaiming initiative turns this liability into an opportunity: cleaning up toxic waste while recovering the critical raw materials Europe urgently needs for its green and digital transitions.

About the Project

The Western Balkans holds over 344 million tonnes of legacy mining and industrial waste across more than 1,650 sites. These deposits are an environmental burden and, at the same time, a largely uncharted source of materials critical to clean energy, digital infrastructure, and European strategic supply chains.

OSF-WB convenes a partnership of technical, policy, and civil society organisations to generate verified data on recovery potential, build the regulatory case at EU level, and embed responsible governance standards in national legislation. The approach is grounded in a clear principle: cleanup is the primary outcome; resource recovery is the economic incentive that makes it viable. No site advances without community consent, transparent governance, and credible environmental safeguards.

The initiative is designed to connect the Western Balkans directly to EU strategic supply chains through the Critical Raw Materials Act framework – transforming a long-neglected regional challenge into a shared European opportunity.

Partnership

OSF-WB steers the initiative and ensures that communities’ benefit and environmental integrity remain non-negotiable at every stage. Three partner organisations bring complementary expertise:

EIT RawMaterials – Regional Innovation Center, Albania Technical Viability Europe’s largest raw materials innovation community. Verifies recovery potential at each pilot site, facilitates technology transfer, and produces the data needed to inform policy and attract financing.

Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS) EU Policy Alignment Brussels-based think tank. Makes the case of EU-WB strategic partnership in advancing CRM circularity, convenes EU institutions and development finance actors to create a conducive space for strategic projects.

New Third Way / IRMA Safeguards & Governance Embeds IRMA’s responsible mining standards into national legislation across Albania, North Macedonia, and Serbia. Promotes circular CRM governance frameworks with civil society and policymakers.

Pilot Sites

Three sites have been identified for technical assessment, each with documented contamination risks and confirmed presence of critical raw materials in the waste deposits:

Kurbnesh, Albania Volume 3 million tonnes of chromium tailings and slag Key Materials Copper, Nickel, Cobalt, Indium Environmental Risk: Acid drainage pH 3 into the Uraka River, active since 1994. Hexavalent chromium (Cr⁶⁺) contamination – among the most toxic heavy metals – leaching into surrounding soil and waterways.

Artana, Kosovo Volume 4 million tonnes of lead-zinc processing residues Key Materials Lead, Zinc, Silver, Indium Environmental Risk: Acid drainage pH 2-3.3, severely acidic. Lead and Zinc leaching into the Marec River. Heavy metal contamination of surrounding land.

Probištip, North Macedonia Volume 14 million tonnes of copper and polymetallic tailings Key Materials Indium, Gallium, Antimony, Scandium, Rare Earth Elements Environmental Risk: Metal dust exposure – residents live 200m from the deposit. River contamination from tailings runoff. Polymetallic leaching risk across a large surface area.

Progress to Date

The initiative is in its first operational year, with technical assessment, EU policy advocacy, and governance development progressing in parallel. Key milestones targeted by end of 2026:

Regional Impact