A mining company’s discovery of continental Europe’s largest deposit of rare earth elements (REEs) could upend China’s global dominance of the materials used to make a range of critical technological and military components.
Rare Earths Norway announced last week that it had discovered “a truly game-changing asset that can support a secure European rare earths value chain.”
“Our aim is to supply 10% of European demand for magnet-related rare earth elements (NdPr) in the first phase of operations,” CEO Alf Reistad said. Newsweek. Such REEs are used in many high-tech applications, including electric vehicle motors, wind turbines, and precision-guided missile systems.
Yttrium, neodymium and 15 other rare earth elements are not truly rare, but they are difficult to extract and refine. China produces about 60% of the rare earth elements and processes 90% of them, and accounts for 98% of the European Union’s imports and 80% of the United States’ imports. This is a national security concern for Washington and Brussels.
Roger Bosch/AFP via Getty Images
The Fen carbonatite complex, about 70 miles southwest of Oslo, is thought to contain about 8.8 megatons of rare earth oxides, about 1.5 megatons of which are thought to be magnet-related rare earths essential for the production of wind turbines and electric vehicles.
“Exploration, development of new technologies and test mining should lead to an investment decision of NOK 10 billion ($943 million) to develop the first stage of mining by 2030,” the company said.
The Critical Raw Materials Act, which came into force on May 23, stipulates that the EU must source 10 percent of its annual consumption of critical raw materials domestically and carry out 40 percent of their processing domestically. Norway is not an EU member state but participates in the EU single market.
The law also stipulates that no more than 65 percent of strategic raw materials may be imported from a single third country, in order to curb the EU’s dependency on external suppliers and reduce supply chain risks.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen highlighted the importance of rare earth elements in her 2022 State of the Union address, predicting that “lithium and rare earth elements will soon become more important than oil and gas,” noting that demand for these metals will “increase fivefold” over the next decade.
China has recently demonstrated its willingness to leverage its control over strategic metals.
Last year, China tightened reporting controls on exports of strategic rare earth elements in an apparent response to U.S. restrictions on semiconductor and chip-making equipment that the Biden administration argues are intended to limit China’s military technological advances.
China’s Ministry of Commerce has also announced restrictions on equipment used in processing rare earth elements and magnets.
Newsweek The Chinese Foreign Ministry was contacted via email seeking comment.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom, seeking common ground and finding connections.
