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Some of Europe’s purest graphite can be found deep in Romania’s Carpathian Mountains. This simple mineral is what makes lithium-ion batteries work for phones, electric vehicles, and more. All eyes are on Salrom, Romania’s state mining giant, because the EU wants to get rid of China’s 80% control over global supplies.
But behind the promise of jobs and new ideas is a story of bureaucratic sabotage and mistakes that almost led to disasters. Can Salrom become the EU’s lifeline for important minerals after years of political meddling? Salrom is different from other big mining companies, because it is the biggest salt producer in Romania and has been around since 1997.
But the real change is that it is going after high-stakes resources. In July 2025, the company got an extended period of time to mine the Baia de Fier deposit in Gorj County. It mined there from 1979 to 2006. Now, Salrom is asking the European Commission for a big €250 million investment. The money would be used to build an integrated processing plant that would turn raw graphite concentrate into battery-ready anodes while following strict EU rules for sustainability. Also adding around 300 specialized jobs in an area that doesn’t have many job openings, which is good for Gorj’s rural economy.
The Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA) says that graphite is the most important raw material for the EU. It also says that the EU needs to meet its climate goals by 2030, although this may be subject to change in the near future, depending on the political climate. The act says that by the end of the decade, 10% of the bloc’s yearly consumption must come from domestic sources. This will cut down on the need for imports that aren’t stable. Romania’s Baia de Fier has some of the purest graphite in the world, with up to 99% carbon content. Because of this, it is great for high-performance batteries in aerospace, semiconductors, and even flexible electronics.
If Salrom’s project gets the green light, it could make Romania one of Europe’s top producers of graphite, supplying it to factories from Stuttgart to Stockholm and boosting the EU’s €1 trillion green push.
Unfortunately, political puppeteering and bad management has hurt the company many times. After the floods in May 2025, the Praid salt mine in Harghita County, which used to be a UNESCO World Heritage Site, fell apart in a terrible way.
Heavy rains turned into a man-made disaster because maintenance warnings were ignored, reinforcements were delayed, and leaders cared more about party loyalty than the risks of earthquakes. The mine is Salrom’s most important asset, but it is about to close for good, which would mean losing 200 jobs and €10 million in annual revenue.
This isn’t just one time mistake, however. Salrom’s problems are like Romania’s bigger political problems, where ministers use state-owned companies as playgrounds for their friends and form coalitions that keep changing. Salrom’s plans to get into the graphite business, which have been teased since 2023, hit a dead end because of boardroom fights and a lack of coherent and consistent funding.
Cleaning up the Praid mess alone cost millions, which meant that projects like Baia de Fier had less money. The EU should learn from the story of Salrom. The CRMA has 47 strategic projects, such as Greenland lithium and Namibian cobalt, that are meant to increase supply in key domains. But these projects can only work if the partners are stable.
Romania could be an important player because it has a lot of resources that haven’t been used yet, but political instability could waste them.
If EU money starts to come in, it could not only lead to the production of graphite anodes, but also a revival in management, showing that state-owned businesses can do well without government interference.