Europe's largest find of rare earth metals has been found in the Norwegian county of Telemark, according to Norwegian media.
Targeted investigations have been ongoing for approximately three years, but now a Norwegian mining company has been able to confirm that the find is the largest in Europe. Among the metals are neodymium and praseodymium oxide, which are considered important for the green transition, according to NRK.
Last year, a similar find was presented in Kiruna. However, the Norwegian find is reportedly significantly larger. In total, it is estimated that 8.78 million tons of rare earth metals can be extracted from the area.
The find was located near Fensfältet, where metal extraction has been carried out in the past.
The extraction of rare earth metals is currently largely concentrated in China. The find is considered to have great importance for European industry, which, with some recycling exceptions, relies on external imports from outside Europe to meet its demand for the metals.
Rare earth metals are used, among other things, in magnets in electric motors and generators. They are also used in, among other things, catalytic converters, batteries, glass, and ceramics. Currently, no production is taking place within the EU.
In the concept "rare earth metals", a group of elements is included, which mainly consists of lanthanum, praseodymium, neodymium, promethium, samarium, europium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, holmium, erbium, thulium, ytterbium, and lutetium.
Source: Swedish Geological Survey
