The CRMA stage map for raw materials, covering exploration, extraction, processing, and recycling rather than the full finished-product value chain.
Raw materials value chain gives teams a stage map for material evidence. It helps decide whether a record belongs to exploration, extraction, processing, recycling, or a downstream product workflow, which matters when source documents and claims are attached at different levels.
The EU Critical Raw Materials Act frames this chain around raw-material supply resilience. The boundary should remain narrower than general supply-chain or product-lifecycle terminology so CRMA stage evidence does not get mixed with unrelated product records. It is not the same as the full product value chain.
Regulation (EU) 2024/1252 establishing a framework for ensuring a secure and sustainable supply of critical raw materials
all activities and processes involved in the exploration, extraction, processing and recycling of raw materials
CRMA Article 2 source-specific definition layer.
Reference: Article 2, point 2
Reviewed public draft page. Aligns with CRMA raw-material priority policy: source-bound category boundaries, concrete implementation objects, and evidence-focused commentary.
Implementation records should capture stage field, facility or project record, source document, upstream material link, downstream product link, actor, location, capacity or output metric, evidence file, and the rule for moving a record from one stage to another.
Raw materials value chain is the stage-routing map for CRMA evidence. Keeping stages separated makes it possible to connect extraction, processing, recycling, and product-passport records without losing where a claim was generated.