Per geijer läkare
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Sweden discovers Europe’s largest rare earths deposit
Tommy Alven /
The deposit has been found close to LKAB's existing mining operations in Kiruna, Sweden
SWEDEN’S state mining firm has discovered what could be Europe’s largest rare earths deposit, and says it could help the bloc reduce its reliance on imports of minerals needed to manufacture clean technologies and meet climate targets.
LKAB says it has identified a deposit known as Per Geijer, close to its existing mining operations in Kiruna, northern Sweden. It estimates the find contains more than 1m t of rare earth metals.
Jan Moström, LKAB CEO said: “This is the largest known deposit of rare earth elements in our part of the world, and it could become a significant building block for producing the critical raw materials that are absolutely crucial to enable the green transition.”
Rare earth elements are crucial components of the magnets used in electric vehicle motors and wind turbine generators, so are foundational to the EU’s plans to reduce its dependency on Russian gas supplies and meet climate targets. However, as things currently stand, its push for electrification is switching reliance to China which dom
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Swedish state-owned mining company, LKAB, has identified Europe’s largest deposit of rare earth metals, an essential building block of the green transition
ROAD TO MININGMEETING DEMAND
Electrification is expected to dramatically increase the demand for rare earth elements.
Among other applications, these metals are essential for the manufacture of electric vehicles (EVs) and wind turbines.
At a time of rising geopolitical tensions, growing demand will lead to global undersupply in a market completely dominated by China, a factor which increases the vulnerability of the European market.
Although no rare earth elements are currently mined in Europe, significant deposits have just been identified by LKAB in the Kiruna area of Sweden.
More than one million tonnes of rare earth oxides have been reported by the company following successful exploration, the largest known deposit of its kind in Europe.
This is good news not only for LKAB, the region and the Swedish people, but also for the continent and the climate, as it could become a significant building block for producing the raw materials that are crucial to enabling the green transition.
ROAD TO MINING
Despi
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Europe's Largest Deposit of Rare Earth Metals Now 25 Percent Larger
The nordlig Swedish mining company LKAB has applied for processing concession for the so-called Per Geijer deposit in Kiruna in Northern Sweden. Since the deposit was reported as Europe's largest known insättning for rare earth metals earlier this year, further investigations have been conducted.
"A concession will entail that we can increase the mineral resources for rare earth metall oxides bygd 25 percent to over 1,3 million tonnes," says Jan Mostr'om, CEO of LKAB, in a press release.
If the processing concession is approved, the company can continue to develop the insättning and prepare an environmental permit application. However, this does not mean LKAB gets permission to början a mine. First, the company must go through a process of getting exclusive rights to continue investigating the mineralization.
Today, LKAB reports that the insättning contains mineral resources of million tonnes of iron ore, with high iron content and more than 1,3 million tonnes of rare earth oxides on the site. When it was announced in January , the deposit was already the largest rare earth metall deposit in Europe.
Today, Euro