French mining group Eramet has blamed a lack of EU funding for critical minerals for having pushed it into a deepening partnership with China’s Tsingshan, the world’s largest stainless steel producer, which was behind the nickel market blow-up last year.

The 143-year-old company, which is 27 per cent owned by the French state, has partnered with the controversial Chinese group in Indonesia on a vast nickel project and opted to branch out into lithium in Argentina together.

However, Pierre-Alain Gautier, director of corporate affairs and partnerships at Eramet, told the Financial Times that EU support for mining companies would have eliminated the need to further its partnership with Tsingshan to develop critical resources for electric car batteries.