Is the European Union's Critical Raw Materials Act fit for purpose?
A Conversation with the mining industry.
Today, I had an interview with the European Association of Mining Industries, Metal Ores, and Industrial Minerals. I asked about the key positions of the mining sector on the recent enactment of the Critical Raw Materials Act. While EU President Ursula von de Leyen has hailed the policy as a landmark piece of European legislation to counter the region’s dependency on China, Russia, South Africa, and other mineral producers for its raw materials, there are key issues that have yet to be addressed. There are indeed many challenges in implementing the CRM Act.
Some of the points worth highlighting can be found in an official document by the EUROMINES:
Lack of investment in mineral exploration and lengthy mining procedures can undermine new mining projects. Regulations should incentivize investments.
Because mining is a long-term investment, state aid provisions will be necessary for primary extraction, though these would be specifically related to indirect compensation for CO2-costs that are included in electricity as we move towards full electrification—we still need to make mining within Europe competitive vis-a-vis the outside world.
CRM Act needs to be in line with other regulations, such as those that must tackle energy crisis and environmental regulations.
We might need to think about creating a raw materials agency whose purpose is to push for supply diversification and risk reduction.
These points were articulated in more detail via a recent press release, which can be found here: https://www.euromines.org/news/eu-critical-raw-materials-act-euromines-policy-requests.