Since the LKAB mining company announced that it has identified a deposit containing a million tonnes of rare earth oxides in the north of the country, essential for the development of electric vehicles in particular, Rennes breeders demonstrate their anger.
by Anne-Françoise Hiver (Malmö (Sweden), regional correspondent)
In this communication operation roundly carried out, nothing has been left to chance. Nails of the Minister of Industry, EBBA Busch, decorated with chemical symbols of iron and lithium, until the decor – 500 meters underground, in the Kiruna mine, which provides 80 % of the iron ore produced in Europe -, via timing: January 12, a few hours before the arrival of the European Commission in Kiruna, while sixty foreign journalists were already on the spot, invited for the launch of the Swedish Presidency of the Council of the European Union.
At the end of the morning, the president of the LKAB mining company, 100 % controlled by the Swedish state, announced the discovery of the largest known deposit in rare land in Europe. What to charm Brussels, who is concerned about the growing dependence of Europe vis-à-vis China, the world’s leading producer of these minerals, essential to the ecological transition.
According to LKAB calculations, Per Geijer’s deposit (named after a Swedish geologist), located north of Kiruna, would contain at least a million tonnes of rare earth oxides, in addition to the equivalent a quarter of European phosphorus needs and 400 million tonnes of iron ore. Its existence had been known for a long time, but the company only started to make drilling there recently, in order to analyze the concentration of rare earths.
In 2022, LKAB had already announced its intention to retreat the mining waste from the Kiruna mine, to extract its precious minerals. Surprise: the tests carried out on the Per Geijer deposit revealed a concentration “seven times higher [than in the main mine] in rare earth oxides”, reveals Anders Lindberg, the company spokesperson.
News welcomed in the euphoria
For the moment, however, no production date has been advanced. Jan Moström, the CEO of LKAB, estimated that the calendar will be “extremely dependent on authorization processes”. “In the worst case, we are talking about ten to fifteen years, which is the average time to start a new mine in Sweden,” said Lindberg.
In the Scandinavian kingdom, the news was welcomed in euphoria. This discovery “shows that Sweden has a glorious future as a mining nation”, rejoiced Ms. Busch, while on the social networks of the Swedes were misunderstanding to see their country finally capable of competing with neighboring Norway and its basements rich in hydrocarbons.
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