The timing couldn't be better.
The announcement was made on Thursday 12 January, during the visit to Kiruna, Sweden, of members of the European Commission and its President, Ursula von der Leyen, gathered for a seminar marking the start of the Swedish Presidency of the Union European.
A deposit estimated at one million tonnes of rare earths has been identified in this same region of Kiruna, in the Swedish Far North.
Visit of the European Commission to Kiruna, Sweden has started.
A Royal warm welcome at the famous ice hotel.@sweden2023eu pic.twitter.com/XoYl8hQ4np
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"This is the largest known deposit of rare earth elements in our part of the world," said Jan Moström, the CEO of the Swedish mining group LKAB which made the discovery, on Thursday, adding that the future mine " could become an important building block for the production of critical raw materials absolutely crucial for the green transition".
The discovery of this mine could indeed be a boon for Europe, which seeks to reduce its dependence on external supplies, particularly with regard to rare earth metals.
These are strategic in several fields of industry (metallurgy, new technologies, armaments) and in particular in the so-called "green" industry.
Samarium is used, for example, in the manufacture of permanent magnets for electric vehicle batteries.
Neodymium is used to produce very powerful permanent magnets for offshore wind turbines.
According to the CEO of the LKAB mining group, the discovery made in Kiruna will have a "considerable impact" to reduce dependence on China and could make it possible to manufacture a "significant part" of the magnets used in the motors of electric cars produced in Europe. horizon 2035.
No commissioning for ten years
Technically, rare earths are actually not that rare.
They are "present everywhere but in very small quantities", explains Yves Jégourel, professor holder of the chair Economics of raw materials at the National Conservatory of Arts and Crafts (Cnam).
Rare earths are indeed rather widespread on the planet.
The US Geological Survey estimates world reserves at around 120 million tonnes.
More than a third, 44 million tons, is in China, 22 million tons in Vietnam, 21 million in Brazil, 12 million in Russia and 7 million in India.
“It is not a complete discovery because we already knew that there was rare earth there”, specifies Émilie Janots, lecturer at the Institute of Earth Sciences (ISTerre), specialist in minerals of rare earths.
"The rare earth deposit at Kiruna was found close to a previously mined iron deposit, where more than 950 million tons of ores and iron oxide have already been extracted. It is one of the largest deposits in European iron", explains the researcher.
"What is virtuous in Kiruna is that the company that found the deposit has expertise and infrastructure already present and that they will potentially be able to exploit different types of metals", underlines Émilie Janots.
“This deposit is ideally very good news,” agrees Yves Jégourel.
But, he says, you have to be careful.
“We are talking about a million tonnes, but we would have to look precisely at what is in the deposit and determine the extent of the reserves, namely what fraction of the mineral resources – the million tonnes – can be exploited at market prices. “, he points.
"An ore contains a certain metal content – here rare earths – and this is called the grade. Depending on the grade, the deposit is more or less profitable. The higher the grade of valuable metals, the more interesting it is to exploit this ore", explains the expert.
"A long way" indeed remains to be covered before the deposit can be exploited, according to Jan Moström, the CEO of the LKAB group.
The actual commissioning of the mine would depend on the demand from car manufacturers and the time taken to obtain the necessary authorizations which, in his experience, require "between ten and fifteen years".
"Between the discovery of a deposit and its operational implementation, it takes time", explains Yves Jégourel.
This will make it possible to precisely determine all the technical, economic, but also environmental and societal issues associated with this project.
China's quasi-monopoly
Between commercial and geopolitical differences, tensions between China and the West are numerous.
Brussels and Washington feel the urgency to diversify their supplies, especially for these essential raw materials.
And the discovery of a huge source of rare earth metals essential to tomorrow's economy can help Europe regain mining sovereignty.
Because 98% of the rare earths used in the EU currently come from China, which has had a virtual monopoly in the sector since 1995.
>> To see: "Rare earths: unique minerals at the heart of a global battle"
"We must avoid finding ourselves again in a situation of dependence, as with oil and gas," said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in her State of the Union address in last September.
Especially since European needs should continue to increase.
To carry out its energy transition and achieve its objectives in the fight against global warming, the European Union will have to import huge quantities of metals.
Ursula von der Leyen thus estimated in September that the EU's needs for rare earths would "be multiplied by five by 2030".
In a report of more than 100 pages commissioned by the European association of metal producers Eurométaux, researchers from the University of Leuven detail the challenges facing Europe in securing its supplies of strategic metals and calculate that it will take up to to 26 times more rare earths than today to achieve carbon neutrality in 2050.
"If we have a strong European supply and a strong European demand for rare earths", the European market could establish itself, analyzes Yves Jégourel.
But beware of China's weight in this industry, he warns: "China is extremely present in many aspects of the energy transition and it has real power in the market."
China also created, in December 2021, a giant of rare earths, a conglomerate called "China Rare Earth Group", in order to be able to revalue the prices of materials and stabilize production, or even increase it.
"Chinese companies have strong backbones and they have lower production costs. They can influence market prices. Tomorrow,
Polluting industry
In addition, the opening of the Kiruna deposit in Sweden could face the same social and environmental issues as other sites in Europe.
For example in Spain, where the reserves of rare earths are evaluated – according to the National Geological and Mining Institute – at 70,000 tons, ie the third potential of the continent, after Norway and Sweden.
The two main rare earth mining projects in the country never saw the light of day.
The operating permit for the main site, called "Matamulas", was refused by the Region because of its environmental impact.
Because the exploitation of rare earths is a particularly polluting industry.
The extraction, treatment and separation of rare earths are very expensive in terms of energy, water and chemicals.
But for researcher Émilie Janots, "Sweden is a country with well-established environmental standards".
And the ten to fifteen years of waiting before the start of the exploitation of the rare earth mine in Kiruna will serve "to verify that the legislative, administrative and environmental protocols will be well respected".
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