Huge Rare Earths Discovery is Gamechanger in Americas Trade War with China

oilprice.com ^ | June 20, 2024 | Tom Kool

[Red Badger]

At the height of the American war machine’s realization that China controls nearly all of its raw materials, two new developments in Europe now suggest that the West has a fighting chance to secure critical metals for the future: A major discovery in Norway, and a potentially game-changing acquisition in Greenland.

In mid-June, Norwegian mining company Rare Earths Norway unveiled one of the largest deposits of rare earth elements in Europe in the Fen Carbonatite Complex in the country’s south. That discovery followed a vote in Norwegian parliament that paved the way for offshore, deep-sea mining of rare minerals in the country’s remote northern waters, Fortune magazine reported, making this the first country in Europe to allow such seabed mining activities. At the same time, Critical Metals Corp announced an acquisition deal for what it believes is the largest critical metals deposit in the world, in Greenland.

On June 10, Critical Metals Corp signed an agreement to acquire a controlling interest in Greenland’s Tanbreez project, which it says is the largest rare earth deposit in the world. Once operational, CRML expects it to supply Europe and North America. And on June 18 the company announced it had completed its initial investment for the Tanbreez acquisition, lending more confidence to the deal and further de-risking the transaction, according to a company press release.

Tanbreez is said to have over 28 million tonnes of total rare earth oxides, the company estimates internally, and nearly 30% of that is the most coveted “heavy” rare earth elements (HREE).

[mowowie]

I’d be completely happy with a good condition 2003 highlander right now.

I have had some really sweet cars when i was younger but now to me vehicles are just driveway ornaments and i could care less about impressing people or myself.
every car becomes boring after a few weeks....then just sits there in the driveway waiting to drive me to work to pay for it.

[AustinBill]

Mining in the US will take off when it can be completely automated. The pieces are coming into place but putting them together in a practical manner will probably take through the end of the decade. After that, you can expect autonomous mining to be the standard with little to no direct human involvement in the dirty end of the business.