Europe’s largest deposit of rare earth metals found in Sweden – POLITICO
Europe’s largest known deposit of rare earth metals — key to building electric vehicle batteries and wind turbines — has been discovered in northern Sweden, mining company LKAB notified today.
The Swedish company found a rare earth deposit exceeding 1 million tonnes of rare earth oxides.
“This is the largest known deposit of rare earth metals in our part of the world, and it can become an important building block for producing the critical raw materials that are absolutely crucial to enable the green transition,” says Jan Moström, the company’s CEO. and CEO.
No rare earths are currently mined in Europe, with China provide almost 98 percent of the EU’s supply.
According to European Commissiondemand for these elements is expected to increase more than fivefold by 2030, as they are needed to build digital and green technologies.
With current permit processes, it could take between 10 and 15 years before operations begin at the Kiruna mine, where the deposits were found, Moström said.
He called on Brussels to speed up and streamline these processes as part of its law on critical raw materials, which will be announced on March 14.
“Politics must give the industry the conditions to switch to green and fossil-free production,” said Sweden’s Minister of Energy and Industry Ebba Busch in response to the news.