About a dozen companies such as ThyssenKrupp and BASF, as well as small- and mid-sized companies plan to set up the alliance early next year with the aim of eventually establishing a "raw materials company" that will explore and mine for the crucial commodities in future, the companies said, confirming a corresponding report in the business daily Handelsblatt.

A spokesman for ThyssenKrupp told AFP that each company would initially each put up "hundreds of thousands of euros" for the alliance but their contributions would increase once concrete exploration projects got underway.