Sweden Announces Discovery Of Largest Rare Earth Deposit In Europe

Sweden mining company, LKAB, announced that it discovered more than 1 million tonnes of rare earth oxides in the Kiruna area in the far north of the country, the largest known such deposit in Europe.

“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,” LKAB’s chief executive Jan Mostrom said in a statement.

“We face a supply problem. Without mines, there can be no electric vehicles,” Mostrom added.

LKAB has already started to prepare a drift, several kilometers long, at a depth of approximately 700 meters in the existing Kiruna mine towards the new deposit in order to be able to investigate it at depth and in detail.