Africa-Press – Sierra-Leone. In spring of 2022, auspicious results were presented from the Swedish mining company LKAB’s exploration in Kiruna area. Now, acting on the recent findings, LKAB has already started work to investigate the new deposit in detail.
Europe’s largest known deposit of rare earth metals has been discovered in Kiruna area, Sweden’s far north, according to government-owned mining company Luossavaara-Kiirunavaara Aktiebolag (LKAB).
LKAB has identified Per Geijer deposit, located in close proximity to an existing iron mine, as containing mineral resources exceeding one million tonnes of rare earth oxides. These metals are essential for such applications as the manufacture of electric vehicles and wind turbines.
China is the world’s largest producer of REEs, accounting for almost 60% of global annual production, while no rare earth elements are currently mined in Europe. However, according to the European Commission, demand for rare earth elements for electric cars and wind turbines, among others, is expected to increase over fivefold by 2030.
But enthusiastic as the company is, the road to possible mining of the deposit may be a long and winding one. The Per Geijer deposit needs to be investigated further regarding possible mining conditions, with a relevant plan submitted, along with an application for an exploitation concession in 2023. According to the company, around 10 to 15 years might pass before any actual mining and delivery of raw materials begins.
Meanwhile, LKAB has started work on a “drift,” several kilometers long, at a depth of around 700 meters, in the existing Kiruna mine. This will offer access to the new deposit for further investigation.
More lucrative opportunities are potentially linked with the deposit as the rare earth elements discovered in Per Geijer occur together with phosphorus in the mineral apatite, in what is mainly an iron ore deposit. Therefore, it might offer production of by-products.
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