The Norwegian company REN-Rare Earths Norway has announced the discovery of a deposit that, according to preliminary estimates, contains 8.8 million tons of rare earth oxides, and plans to invest nearly EUR 870 million in its exploitation.
With reserves four times larger than those identified and disclosed by the Swedish mining company LKAB at the Kiruna mine in January of last year, the deposit, located at almost 500 meters depth in the Fen extraction area in the southern county of Telemark, could become the largest rare earth deposit ever discovered in Europe. The estimates for the Fen complex are contained in a report commissioned by REN to WSP, a Canadian engineering and professional services consultancy, based on three years of exploratory work in the area.
The document highlights reasonable prospects for the economic exploitation of the deposit. Specifically, 1.5 million tons of neodymium and praseodymium, valuable elements essential for the production of magnets used in electric vehicles and wind turbines, have been identified within the deposit. According to the estimates, the resources of the deposit extend down to 468 meters, but further drilling suggests the presence of mineralisation down to 1,000 meters, indicating the possibility of an even larger quantity of rare earths.
Although the report emphasises that these are entirely preliminary estimates that cannot currently guarantee the volumes that can actually be extracted and processed, REN’s management has described the discovery as a genuine breakthrough, capable of supporting the creation, within a few years, of a secure and sustainable value chain that will benefit both Norway and Europe.
In the immediate future, the company plans to commence additional drilling soon, publish new analyses and estimates by the end of the year, and build a plant for optimising mineral processing procedures and testing new technologies. REN aims to begin the first phase of mining exploitation by 2030.
