China Note! EU-Member Sweden Locates Rare Earth Deposits

China Note! EU-Member Sweden Locates Rare Earth Deposits
Reindeer herder Niila Inga from the Laevas Sami community walks across the snow as the sun sets on Longastunturi mountain near Kiruna, Sweden, on Nov. 27, 2019. Malin Moberg/AP Photo
|Updated:

KIRUNA, Sweden—The beginning of the end of Europe’s dependency on China for precious rare earth materials may lie buried deep under the rugged reaches of northern Sweden, well above the Arctic Circle.

Sweden’s iron-ore miner LKAB said Thursday it has identified “significant deposits” in Lapland of rare earth elements that are essential for the manufacture of smartphones, electric vehicles, and wind turbines.