EIT Raw Materials 2024 happened last week in Brussels as the first major event since the passing of Europe’s Critical Raw Materials Agreement (CRMA) and Net Zero Industry Act (NZIA). Two policies which are meant to bring Europe onto a level playing field with the USA’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) despite considerably weaker financial incentives. Countries in the European Union will broadly have to rely on subsidies in their own countries rather than a central funding source as is the case in the US. This is one of a few reasons Europe will continue to struggle in developing its own mineral extraction industry – despite the desire to do so as laid out in the CRMA. Mining companies are still…