Massive Deposit of Rare Minerals Found by Swedish State Mining Company

Hightlights

• LKAB finds over 1 million tons of rare earth minerals in Kiruna, Sweden.
• The discovery is vital for Europe’s renewable energy sector.
• Potential implications for Europe’s dependency on Chinese rare earth supply.

LKAB (opens in a new tab), the Swedish state-owned mining company, reports over 1 million tons of rare minerals found in the Kiruna area of northern Sweden. Rare earth elements are not currently mined in Europe. Most come from China, and demand is expected to grow as industries shift to renewable energy.

Kiruna is a town in the far north of Swedish Lapland. It’s known for the huge LKAB iron ore mine and its underground visitors center with an exhibit on mining. Hjalmar Lundbohmsgården, the 19th-century former home of LKAB’s first managing director, is now a museum with a courtyard photography exhibit. Kiruna Church is notable for its bell tower and resemblance to the traditional huts of the indigenous Sámi people.

LKAB reports that the deposit, found near its iron ore mine, was the largest of rare earth oxides in Europe.

Rare Earth Exchanges chronicles the transforming sourcing, supply chain production, and distribution of rare earth materials. These commodities are mission-critical for the production of high-tech products, electric cars, wind turbines, electronics, and the like.

The finding is “quite significant,” according to Jan Mostrom, CEO of LKAB in an Al Jazeera report. One thing is that we can identify quite large deposits of this material here within the European Union, and these materials will be vital for electrification,” he said.

When asked if the discovery has the potential to replace China as the main supplier of rare earth metals to Europe, Mostrom said these were the “early stages.”

About LKAB: Founded in 1890, Luossavaara-Kiirunavaara Aktiebolag (LKAB) is a state-owned Swedish mining company. The company mines iron ore at Kiruna and at Malmberget in northern Sweden. The company has been 100% state-owned since the 1950s.

Source: Local Telegrafi (opens in a new tab)