Presentation short abstract

This paper examines the processes of resource-making and criticality-making, focusing on lithium in Portugal and the EU. It analyses how lithium is defined as “critical” and the effects of criticality, highlighting the disputes, tensions, and contradictions inherent in resource-making processes.

Presentation long abstract

This paper examines the processes of resource-making and criticality-making, focusing on the politics of lithium in Portugal and the European Union. It analyses how lithium is defined as “critical” and explores the concrete effects that criticality produces, particularly during the early stages of exploration and planning of mining projects.

Drawing on 10 months of fieldwork in Portugal and Brussels, including participant observation, documentary analysis, and 40 interviews with policymakers, industry representatives, NGOs, and local communities, the paper explores the tensions, contradictions, and contestations inherent in resource-making processes. Drawing on literature on political ecology, resource-making and criticality, the paper understands criticality as a dynamic, relational, and fluid concept shaped by factors such as geopolitics, expert practices, power relations, risk perceptions, technological developments, and regulatory frameworks. Moreover, it highlights that materiality and meaning-making are deeply intertwined, with the designation of lithium as “critical” shaping policies and legitimising extractive projects, while lithium’s material characteristics simultaneously influence how its criticality is constructed and contested.

The paper argues that criticality-making and resource-making are not linear or inevitable processes but are characterised by disputes, contradictions, competing interests, and strategic delays that unfold across multiple scales, from Brussels meeting rooms to territories affected by lithium exploration and mining. It contributes to an understanding of how these processes are experienced and contested across scales, as well as how socio-political dynamics and complex materialities both shape and are shaped by the governance of raw materials in the EU.