The Swedish LKAB discovers the largest deposit of rare earth metals in Europe

KIRUNA, Sweden/STOCKHOLM, Jan 12 (Reuters) – Sweden’s state-owned mining company LKAB said on Thursday it had identified more than one million tonnes of rare earth oxides in the Kiruna region in the far north of the country, the largest known of its type. filing in Europe.

Rare earth minerals are essential to many high-tech manufacturing processes and are used in electric vehicles, wind turbines, portable electronic devices, microphones and speakers.

“This is good news, not only for LKAB, the region and the people of Sweden, but also for Europe and the climate,” LKAB CEO Jan Mostrom said in a statement.

“It could become an important building block to produce the critical raw materials that are absolutely crucial to enable the green transition,” he said.

Rare earth elements are currently not mined in Europe, leaving the region dependent on imports from elsewhere, while demand is expected to increase in the coming years due to a rise in electric vehicles and renewable energies. renewable.

“Electrification, self-sufficiency and independence of the EU from Russia and China will start in the mine,” said Minister of Energy, Trade and Industry Ebba Busch in the press release.

Sweden currently holds the rotating presidency of the European Union and is a country seen as a key part of the EU’s strategy for self-sufficiency in key minerals.

The European Commission considers rare earths as one of the most critical resources for the region. The vast majority of rare earths are currently mined in China.

However, the road to exploiting the deposit in Sweden is long.

LKAB said it plans to submit a mining concession application in 2023, but added that it would take at least 10 to 15 years before it could potentially start mining the deposit and ship it to market.

The approval process for new mines is long and demanding in the Nordic country, as operations often increase the risk of impact on water resources and biodiversity in the areas where they are located.

In addition, Erik Jonsson, senior geologist at the Geological Survey of Sweden’s Department of Mineral Resources, said Europe currently lacks a large-scale capacity to process rare earth metals and manufacture intermediate products.

“So we also need to focus on the whole value chain of these metals, products like high-yield magnets that we want to use for wind turbines or electric vehicle traction motors and so on,” said Jonsson.

Reporting by Johan Ahlander, Niklas Pollard and Marie Mannes in Stockholm and Jan Strupczewski in Kiruna; edited by Anna Ringstrom and Conor Humphries

Our standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.