What connects Feldioara to Greenland: the question marks of the economic business proposed to the Romanian state

A company, Critical Metals Corp., proposed to Nuclearelectrica to jointly build a processing plant in Feldioara, Brașov county. There, the company says, it will process eudialyte, a rare mineral containing zircon, which the company claims to mine from Greenland through the Tanbreez project. And now the discussions, the temptation and the risks begin. Plus what every citizen needs to know, because the Romanian side will use public money, in case the investment materializes.

Critical Metals Corp. (CRML) started discussions with the state company Nuclearelectrica, subordinate to the Ministry of Energy. Major shareholder of Critical Metals Corp. is European Lithium, a company listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and controlled by businessman Frank Timiș.

What does Critical Metals Corp promise? That the resources extracted from the Tanbreez project in Greenland be processed in Romania. And Nuclearelectrica has possession from Feldioara.

About Critical Metals Corp.'s Tanbreez project in Greenland, a research report by NINGI Research says it “is a promotional vehicle built on geological fantasy and engineering impossibilities.” According to the report, the project excludes actual processing costs. And the main ore is described as practically unprocessable under commercial conditions.

Frank Timiș's partner runs the company

CEO of Critical Metals Corp. (CRML) is Tony Sage, Australian businessman and longtime collaborator of Frank Timiș. It has been involved in mining projects that failed or never reached production, according to public information in the financial markets.

Sage was a director of Cyclone Metals but was ousted in 2025 after the company suffered repeated trading suspensions on the Australian stock exchange and development projects failed to materialize into viable mining operations.

The story related to the stock exchange was also intensively discussed in the case of the well-known Romanian operation of Frank Timiș: Roșia Montana.

Also at European Lithium, where Sage was executive chairman, the Wolfsberg project has been delayed for around 15 years and an Austrian court has ordered a review of its environmental impact assessment, raising questions about its viability.

What happened in Austria

The company CRML, which made the proposal to the Romanian state, claims in a report that Wolfsberg is “the first fully licensed lithium mine in Europe”. But Austrian mining authorities have not granted mining permits, and the project cannot legally progress beyond exploration.

In addition, the Austrian Financial Supervisory Authority (FMA) fined European Lithium for market manipulation and breach of reporting obligations.

Tanbreez and the bet on eudialyte

At Tanbreez, the main ore is eudialyte, a rare mineral containing zirconium, rare earths and other valuable elements, used in nuclear, aeronautical and energy transition technologies.

So far, eudialyte has never been processed on an industrial scale, being considered economically unfeasible with current technologies.

Stock market episodes

In October 2025, an article published by Reuters alleging there was interest from the Trump administration in the company coincided with a spike in CRML's share price. The US Government subsequently publicly denied any such intention and the stock price plummeted.

In November 2025, CRML issued about 2 million shares, citing the purchase of 20 kilograms of “pure copper” from a small Swiss firm, Swiss Commodity Re Limited, established just days before. The company was incorporated on October 30, 2025, as a private limited company, being registered in Hong Kong.

Recently, CRML also announced the purchase of a 1 million euro mobile laboratory from an entity presented as an industry leader, called “Bromet”. The only identifiable entity with this name appears in the ICIJ Offshore Leaks database, being linked to Mossack Fonseca and the Panama Papers.

What Nuclearelectrica answers about the Critical Metals controversies

HotNews asked the Ministry of Energy and Nuclearelectrica to explain the rationale for involvement in a project with Critical Metals, given that there are no commercial eudialyte processing facilities worldwide. And we have no rare earth processing infrastructure. According to experts we spoke to for this article, state entities are focused primarily on uranium and the nuclear fuel cycle, not rare earth metallurgy.

Nuclearelectrica representatives answered HotNews' questions that “the initiative to start the cooperation belonged to Critical Metals Corp.”

Nuclearelectrica also conveyed that, “in essence, it is about the evaluation of an activity”.

“The Term Sheet between FPCU Feldioara and CRML is a non-binding one, the objective being a collaboration between the two companies, in the coming months, based on the provisions of the Term-Sheet”.

HotNews also sent Critical Metals a set of questions related to the Greenland start-up business it proposed to the Romanian public company Nuclearelectriva.

How Critical Metals Shares Soared

The mechanism by which CRML ended up listed on NASDAQ involves several entities, Captura writes in a recent article.

According to stock market information, the company listed on the US stock exchange in February 2024. In early 2025, CRML shares were trading around $1.23, typical of a newly listed company after the SPAC merger.

During 2025, it had an increase of more than 1,300%, reaching an all-time high of $32.15 in the fall. Later, there were declines, and now it is trading around $18-19.

The first entity was a Caribbean post office box firm with no industrial activities that operated as a holding vehicle and pooled shares under the name Critical Metals Corp.

The second entity, Sizzle Acquisition Corp., was a SPAC (Special Purpose Acquisition Company), already listed on NASDAQ, which allowed rapid access to the capital market without direct investment in the real economy.

The third company, European Lithium, an Australian company controlled by Frank Timiș, already owned the Wolfsberg lithium deposit in Austria.

Following the merger of the three, the resulting company retained the name Critical Metals Corp. (CRML), opened an operational office in New York and has Frank Timiș as the majority shareholder, through European Lithium.

The Romanian state denies the possibility that the agreement was used for an artificial effect on the stock market

Following some questions recently asked by HotNews, Nuclearelectrica ruled out the possibility that this initiative was used to create an artificial effect on the stock exchange, without the real intention of developing any real project.

The Ministry of Energy gave the same answer to the question of whether there is a risk that the project will be used to create an artificial effect on the stock market. “Such an eventuality is excluded. Both companies are listed, so they must submit reports regarding the projects they are interested in, presenting their objectives in a transparent manner,” the Ministry of Energy answered for HotNews.

It is interesting that the Romanian state excludes something that is not in its decision-making power. It cannot vouch for an investor's intentions as long as there is no contract. But the warranty costs nothing. It just produces a lot of money for others. Like Montana Tomato. And then you find out that it also causes damage.