Sat, Jan 14, 2023 page1

• Rare earth metal find could end EU’s China dependency

  • AP, KIRUNA, Sweden
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  The beginning of the end of Europe’s dependency on China for precious rare earth materials could lie buried deep under the rugged reaches of northern Sweden, well above the arctic circle.

  Sweden’s iron-ore miner LKAB on Thursday said it has identified “significant deposits” in Lapland of rare earth elements that are essential for the manufacture of smartphones, electric vehicles and wind turbines.

  The government-owned company, which mines iron ore at Kiruna, about 1,000km north of Stockholm, said more than 1 million tonnes of rare earth oxides are likely in the area.

  

  An iron mine operated by the Swedish state-owned company LKAB is pictured in Kiruna, Sweden, on Thursday.

  Photo: EPA-EFE

  It is the largest known deposit of its kind in Europe, the company said, adding that it could take at least a decade before mining starts.

  Swedish Minister for Energy, Business and Industry Ebba Busch called Sweden “a gold mine” following the discovery.

  Her announcement came as the EU’s executive, the European Commission, puts the finishing touches on a proposal for its Critical Raw Materials Act, which could help develop reliable and solid supply chains.

  Rare earths now reach into the lives of almost everyone on the planet, used in everything from hard drives to elevators to trains. They are especially vital to the fast-growing field of green energy, feeding wind turbines and electric vehicle engines.

  However, the EU is lagging well behind competitors on the market, obtaining about 98 percent of its rare earth minerals from China, and none mined in Europe.

  European demand is expected to increase fivefold by 2030 because of the digital and green transition of its economy, the European Commission said.

  European Commissioner for Internal Market Thierry Breton said that the EU’s ambition to become the first climate-neutral continent is at risk without secure and sustainable access to raw materials.

  “Our twin green and digital transition will live or die through the functioning of our supply chains,” Breton said.

  “Take China, with its quasi-monopoly on rare earths and permanent magnets and prices rising by 50 to 90 percent in the past year alone,” he said. “Supply of raw materials has become a real geopolitical tool.”

  The EU is also eager to learn from the past and reduce one-sided dependencies, such as its reliance on Russia for oil and gas.

  “This must change,” Busch said, as European commissioners traveled to Kiruna to mark the start of Sweden’s six-month rotating EU presidency.

  “In the short run, we need to diversify our trade, but in the long run we can’t rely on trade agreements only,” Busch said. “Electrification, the EU’s self-sufficiency and independence from Russia and China will begin in the mine.”

  LKAB — which also develops carbon-free iron ore projects — said the rare earth deposits were found close to the world’s largest underground iron ore mine it runs in Kiruna. Exploration cannot start for years, even if permits are delivered quickly.

  “If we look at how other permit processes have worked within our industry, it will be at least 10 to 15 years before we can actually begin mining and deliver raw materials to the market,” LKAB CEO Jan Mostrom said. “We must change the permit processes to ensure increased mining of this type of raw material in Europe.”
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