Europe’s mining sector has been on the decline for several decades now, due to a variety of factors: At the beginning of the last century, Europe accounted for about 40% of global mining output. Now, that’s down to 3%. China’s growing dominance of the battery and rare earth minerals production and supply chain has been an ongoing threat to Europe, as it significantly contributes to China’s electric vehicle sector and makes the continent, and indeed other parts of the world, heavily dependent upon China for these metals and minerals. Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which prompted a who…