Rare earths refers to a group of 17 elements that are used to make a range of products and infrastructure which are increasingly important to everyday life, from mobile phones to missiles: They can be found in mobiles, hard drives and trains, but they are also important for green technology including wind turbines and electric vehicles. Some are essential for military equipment like missile guidance systems. None of the 17 elements are currently mined in Europe, as nearly all (98%) of the EU’s supply comes from China. Extraction is both difficult and potentially damaging to the environment, and demand for them is expected to increase fivefold by 2030, so much so that lithium and rare earths might soon become more important than oil and gas. Europe’s largest deposit of rare earths has been found in the Kiruna area, Sweden‘s far north: over one million tonnes (although significant, it is just a fraction of the world’s 120-million-tonne reserves). “This is good news, not only for LKAB, the region and the Swedish people, but also for Europe and the climate. 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. We face a supply problem. Without mines, there can be no electric vehicles,” says Jan Moström, President and Group CEO, LKAB. The find should be a way of reducing the EU’s dependence on China, and also a “decisive” move towards the green transition, given the expected rise in demand for electric vehicles and wind turbines. According to the LKAB mining company’s CEO Jan Moström, the newly discovered raw materials may not reach the market before 10-15 years’ time: permitting processes take time due to environmental risk evaluations. Read more on BBC.com and on LKAB.com
