Parked in the driveway of what is forecast to become the largest electric vehicle (EV) market in the world, Scandinavia is proving that it has the potential critical minerals to fuel the looming demand spike.
Significant new discoveries of much sought after critical minerals like rare earth elements (REEs) have been made in Sweden and the Norwegian Government also recently announced it has uncovered huge subsea mining potential for lithium, cobalt, nickel, copper, and rare earths.
These results, and many other new finds, has the growing number of European EV manufacturers keeping a close eye on what is happening in the Scandinavian countries.
Recent studies have forecast that Europe will become the world’s biggest EV market from 2030, overtaking the US and China as European EV registrations accelerate with sales exceeding 70 percent of the market.
A late-2022 European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA) study found that the European market will rebound in the next two years and take the lead on the other global regions by 2030.
However, the lack of known critical minerals reserves within Europe’s borders has created concerns that the region’s EV hopes may be stalled.
With a rapidly developing European EV market on its doorstep, it is no wonder Scandinavian countries are making strong moves to develop their critical metals potential.
World Class Rare Earths Discovery
Swedish mining giant Luossavaara-Kiirunavaara Aktiebolag (LKAB) recently confirmed it had discovered what it says is Europe’s largest deposit of rare earth metals.
LKAB announced it has identified significant deposits of rare earth elements in the Kiruna area of Sweden. REE’s are metals which are essential for, among other applications, the manufacture of electric vehicles and wind turbines.
“This is good news, not only for LKAB, the region and the Swedish people, but also for Europe and the climate,” president and group CEO, Jan Moström, said.
“This is the largest known deposit of rare earth elements in our part of the world, and it could become a significant building block for producing the critical raw materials that are absolutely crucial to enable the green transition. We face a supply problem. Without mines, there can be no electric vehicles.”
No rare earth elements are currently mined in Europe, at the same time, demand is expected to increase dramatically as a result of electrification, which will lead to a global undersupply, and this is at a time of increasing geopolitical tensions.
“Electrification, the EU’s self-sufficiency, and independence from Russia and China will begin in the mine,” said Swedish Minister for Energy, Business and Industry, Ebba Busch. “We need to strengthen industrial value chains in Europe and create real opportunities for the electrification of our societies.”
Busch continued, “Politics must give the industry the conditions to switch to green and fossil-free production. Here, the Swedish mining industry have a lot to offer.”
Substantial Critical Mineral Resources Confirmed on the Norwegian Shelf
A new report from the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) has confirmed that substantial critical minerals resources are located on the seabed of the Norwegian shelf.
The report concludes that the critical mineral resources in place on the Norwegian seabed are sufficient to cover many years of global consumption.
The new study followed a decision by the Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy (MPE) to assign the NPD to assess the resource potential of seabed minerals when mineral activity started in 2020.
“The NPD has built up expertise over many years, in part through a number of expeditions. We’ve mapped relevant areas, collected data, and taken large volumes of mineral samples,” said Kjersti Dahle, director of technology, analysis, and coexistence.
“In this resource assessment, we’ve estimated how much of the various minerals might be found on the seabed in the studied area. Going forward, we will continue to reinforce the source data and the way we evaluate these resources”.
Since 2011, the NPD has collected data in the deepwater areas in the Norwegian Sea and the Greenland Sea in cooperation with the University of Bergen. Beginning in 2020, the University of Tromsø has also been included.
From 2018-2021, the NPD itself conducted four expeditions to collect high-resolution seabed data over the most interesting mineral deposits; drilling operations and collection of mineral samples were also carried out.
Data from these expeditions, supplemented with data from scientific institutions, form the basis for this resource assessment.
“We have extensive experience in mapping the subsurface and assessing petroleum resources. I’m glad that we, with the expertise we bring, can also contribute to identifying resources that could be important in the energy transition,” said Dahle.
Sulphides and manganese crusts
There are three types of mineral deposits on the seabed: manganese nodules, manganese crusts, and sulphides. All three types contain multiple metals, and they are located at significant sea depths, mainly between 1,500m and 6,000m. On the Norwegian shelf, manganese crusts and sulphides have been found at depths around 3,000m.
The NPD’s resource assessment for seabed minerals provides estimates of the resources in place; in other words, resources that have been proven, or that are expected to be present.
“Of the metals found on the seabed in the study area; magnesium, niobium, cobalt, and rare earth minerals are found on the European Commission’s list of critical minerals,” said Dahle.
“Costly, rare minerals such as neodymium and dysprosium are extremely important for magnets in wind turbines and the engines in electric vehicles.”
The prospective area for manganese crusts is estimated to cover more than 8,500km2 of the study area, with an expected value for total resources in place of:
- 3.1Mt of cobalt
- 230Kt of lithium
- 24Mt of magnesium
- 8.4Mt of titanium
- 1.9Mt of vanadium
- 185Mt of manganese
- 19Kt of gallium
- 73Kt of niobium
- 15Kt of hafnium
- 80Kt of tungsten
For sulphides, the expected values for total resources in place are 38Mt of copper, 45Mt of zinc, 2.317Kt of gold, 85Kt of silver, and 1Mt of cobalt.
As well as significant volumes of rare earth minerals in the form of:
- 56Kt of scandium
- 300Kt of yttrium
- 370Kt of lanthanum
- 1.7Mt of cerium
- 100Kt of praseodymium
- 420Kt of neodymium
- 23Mt of europium
- 100Mt of gadolinium
- 15Mt of terbium
- 86Kt of dysprosium
Further investigation of the seabed and technological developments surrounding recovering methods will be required to confirm whether the mineral resources are recoverable.
