Swedish Miner Finds Europe’s Largest Rare Earth Deposit
- Deposit holds more than 1 million tons of rare minerals
- Application for exploration concession expected in 2023
The deposit was discovered near the Arctic town of Kiruna, Sweden.
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The largest known deposit of rare earth minerals in Europe has just been discovered in Sweden’s Arctic, with potential to help the continent break free from China’s dominance on the market for the resources.
The deposit, found by Swedish state-owned mining company LKAB, contains more than 1 million tons of rare earths, according to a statement on Thursday. Work is still in an exploratory phase and the full extent of the deposit, just north of the company’s biggest mine in the Arctic town of Kiruna, is not known, LKAB said.