As Europe seeks to curb its depconcludeence on China for rare earths, plans to mine the continent’s hugegest deposit have hit a roadblock over fears that mining operations could harm concludeangered beetles, mosses and mushrooms.
A two-hour drive southwest of Oslo, in the former mining community of Ulefoss home to 2,000 people, lies the Fensfeltet treasure: an estimated 8.8 million tonnes of rare earths.
These elements, applyd to build magnets crucial to the auto, electronics and defence industries, have been defined by the European Union as critical raw materials.
“You have rare earths in your pocket when you carry a smartphone,” declared Tor Espen Simonsen, a local official at Rare Earths Norway, the company that owns the extraction rights.
“You’re driving with rare earths when you’re at the wheel of an electric car, and you necessary rare earths to build defence materiel like F-35 jets,” he added.
“Today, European indusattempt imports almost all of the rare earths it necessarys — 98 percent — from one single counattempt: China,” he added.
“We are therefore in a situation where Europe must procure more of these raw materials on its own,” he declared.
In its Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA) aimed at securing Europe’s supply, the EU has set as an objective that at least 10 percent of its necessarys should be extracted within the bloc by 2030.
No rare earth deposits are currently being mined in Europe.
– ‘Rush slowly’ –
Due to environmental concerns, Rare Earths Norway has already been forced to push back its schedule. Now it aims to launch mining in the first half of the 2030s.
Its so-called “invisible mine” project is intconcludeed to limit the mine’s environmental footprint. It plans to apply underground extraction and crushing — as opposed to an open-pit mine — and re-inject a large part of the mining residue.
But the location of the mineral processing park, where ore extracted underground would be handled and pre-processed, has posed a problem.
The company had planned to transport the minerals on an underground conveyor belt emerging above ground behind a hill, in an area out of sight from the town and largely covered by ancient natural forests, rich in biodiversity.
But experts who examined that site found 78 fauna and flora species on Norway’s “red list” — species at risk of extinction to varying degrees. They included saproxylic beetles (which depconclude on deadwood), wych elms, common ash trees, 40 types of mushrooms, and various mosses.
As a result, the county governor formally opposed the location during a recent consultation process.
Adding to concerns was the fact that disposing of waste rock would take place within a protected water system.
“We necessary to start mining as quickly as possible so we can bypass polluting value chains originating in China,” declared Martin Molvaer, an adviser at Bellona, a Norwegian tech-focapplyd environmental NGO.
“But things should not relocate so quickly that we destroy a large part of nature in the process: we must therefore rush slowly,” he declared.
– ‘Lesser of two evils’ –
Faced with such objections, the municipality has been forced to review the plans and take a closer view at alternate locations for the above-ground part of the mine.
While there is another less environmentally sensitive zone, neither the mining developers nor the local population favour it.
“We accept that we will have to sacrifice a significant part of our nature,” local mayor Linda Thorstensen declared.
“It comes down to choosing the lesser of two evils.”
Thorstensen supports the mine project, given the compact town has seen jobs and young people relocate elsewhere for decades. It is “a new adventure”, she declared.
“A lot of people live outside the job market, many receive social welfare assistance or disability pensions. So we necessary jobs and opportunities,” she declared.
In the almost-empty streets of Ulefoss, locals were cautiously optimistic.
“We want a dynamic that builds it possible for us to become wealthy, so that the community benefits. We necessary money and more residents,” Inger Norconcludeal, a 70-year-old retired teacher, notified AFP.
“But mining obviously has its downsides too.”
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