LKAB Finds Europe's Largest Deposit of Rare Earth in Northern Sweden

The mining company LKAB has made a significant discovery of rare earth elements in Northern Sweden. The deposit has the potential to become Europe's most important critical raw material mine. At a press conference at the Kiruna mine, LKAB CEO Jan Moström announced the groundbreaking news that the Swedish mining giant has discovered the largest rare-earth metal deposit in Europe in Kiruna, and LKAB is hoping to develop the deposit.

(Photo source: LKAB)

This is the first time LKAB has reported mineral resources and further explored the Per Geijer deposit, which contains over a million tons of rare-earth metals. The company reports that the Per Geijer deposit has over a million tons of rare-earth metal oxides, making it the largest of its kind in known European deposits. These rare-earth elements were discovered in Kiruna, the northernmost city in Sweden, about 20 miles from the Arctic Circle in Swedish Lapland. LKAB's mining operations are nearby, which is the world's largest underground iron ore mine.

The company says that the large amount of rare earth elements discovered is sufficient to meet the future demand for manufacturing permanent magnets, including electric cars and wind turbines, in the European Union. At the press conference, LKAB pointed out that with a fossil-free future, mineral production needs to increase sixfold by 2040. It also noted that the EU consumes 30% of global metals and minerals and that only 3% of those are mined within the union.

Demand for rare earth elements used in electric cars and wind turbines is expected to increase by more than fivefold by 2030. However, according to the company, the EU has no production of these elements.

(Photo source: LKAB)

LKAB says that the road to mining this deposit in Northern Sweden may be long. The first step is to apply for a mining concession for the Per Geijer deposit to be able to conduct further investigations and study the mining conditions. The plan is to submit the mining concession application in 2023. LKAB writes that they have already begun preparing a several-kilometer-long, 700-meter-deep line from the existing Kiruna mine site towards the new deposit f in order to be able to investigate it at depth and in detail.

Reference: https://www.highnorthnews.com/en/europes-largest-deposit-rare-earth-metals-found-northern-sweden

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