Sweden discovers largest rare earth deposit in Europe. They have been importing them from China , its good news that the Europeans now have discovered their own but it will take at least a decade before Sweden’s are available to industry.
They have identified more than 1 million tonnes of rare earth minerals in the northern area of Kiruna.
Jan Mostrom, LKAB’s CEO, told Al Jazeera that finding the deposit is “quite significant”.
“One thing is that we can identify quite large deposits of this material here inside the European Union, and these materials will be vital for electrification,” he said.
He was asked if the discovery has the potential to replace China as the lead supplier of rare earth metals to Europe, Mostrom said these were “early stages”.
“Given the volumes we have today, it could bring in the significant volume of material needed in Europe – not nearly to be self-sufficient but it is an important first step,” he said.
“Electrification, the EU’s self-sufficiency and independence from Russia and China will begin in the mine,” said Ebba Busch, Sweden’s energy, business and industry minister.
