The European Investment Bank has approved €90 million in financing for METLEN Energy & Metals to support major investments at the company’s historic Aluminum of Greece complex in Central Greece. The project focuses on boosting Europe’s supply of bauxite and gallium, two raw materials considered vital to the continent’s green and digital transition.
The funding will modernize METLEN’s bauxite mining operations and finance the construction of a new gallium production facility at the company’s industrial sites in Central Greece. The initiative aims to reduce the European Union’s reliance on imported critical materials while strengthening the resilience of its industrial supply chains.
Gallium, a metal used in advanced clean-energy and digital technologies, will be produced at industrial scale within the European Union for the first time under an EIB-financed project, aligning the investment with Europe’s broader strategy to secure key raw materials for its economy and climate goals.
“This investment is a landmark for Europe’s industrial and strategic autonomy,” said Yannis Tsakiris, an EIB vice president. By supporting METLEN, he said, the bank is helping secure supplies of materials that are “indispensable for the green and digital transitions,” while also promoting industrial innovation, regional development and climate action.
The financing falls under the EIB’s REPowerEU framework, which supports projects that enhance Europe’s industrial competitiveness and accelerate the energy transition.
Work will take place at two METLEN facilities in Central Greece: its bauxite mining operations in the Parnassus–Giona area and the alumina and aluminum complex known as Aluminum of Greece in Agios Nikolaos, Viotia. The latter will host the new gallium production unit.
Beyond boosting Europe’s supply of critical materials, the project is expected to support job creation and retention, strengthen regional cohesion and reduce the environmental footprint of mining and processing through more modern and sustainable industrial practices.
METLEN is one of Greece’s largest industrial groups, with operations spanning energy and metals in Greece and abroad. Through its metallurgy arm, it is among the European Union’s leading vertically integrated aluminum producers and the bloc’s largest bauxite producer.
Evangelos Mytilineos, the company’s executive chairman, said the investment underscores METLEN’s ambition to play a central role in a more resilient and competitive European industry.
“With the financing of the EIB, we confirm the strategic importance of our investment for Europe,” Mytilineos said. “We are implementing a landmark project that decisively strengthens Europe’s self-sufficiency in critical raw materials by bringing gallium into industrial production within the European Union for the first time, while reinforcing regional cohesion and Greece’s industrial base.”
The new loan marks the third time the European Investment Bank has financed METLEN, highlighting what both sides described as a long-standing and successful partnership.
