Aluminum is classified as a critical mineral by both the United States and the European Union. You wouldn’t know it from the perilous state of primary metal production on both sides of the Atlantic. High energy costs, particularly in Europe, have caused multiple smelters to close or curtail output with the result that run-rates are the lowest this century. Back in 2020 the World Bank identified aluminum as a “high-impact” and “cross-cutting” metal in all existing and potential green energy technologies. Yet aluminum hasn’t even made it onto the list of metals covered by the EU’s Critical Raw Materials Act...