Rare earths elements (REE) already play an important role in your everyday life, and is expected to have a major impact on societys future development.
Author: Tor Espen Simonsen
Published: 14 Nov, 2023
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Updated: 23 Dec, 2023
Not least, when we are to carry out the green and digital transition and reduce our CO2 footprint.
"Lithium and rare earths will soon become more important than oil and gas. Our demand for rare earths alone will increase fivefold by 2030," said EU-president Ursula van der Leyen in 2022.
Geological Advisor Sven Dahlgren presented in 2019 an extensive research report in which the conclusion was that the Fen Complex probably contains «Europe's largest deposits of REE bound in monazite and bastnäsite.»
The report was based, among other things, on two deep drillings carried out in the winter of 2018/2019. The drillings showed that there are rare earths at least 1,000 meters below ground. The content of rare earths varied between 0.02 and 10 percent, with long zones between 1 and 5 percent, which is considered to be good.
The question is whether the Fen Complex can become the starting point for a new and exciting value chain in Norway, after the oil age comes to an end.
The Fen Complex in Norway may have Europe's largest deposit of rare earth elements (REE), which are important raw materials for modern industry, the green transition and defense materials.
Rare earths are considered critical and strategic raw materials by both the EU, the USA and Norway.
China controls the majority of the world's extraction and processing of rare earths.
International events such as trade wars and conflicts increase awareness of the strategic importance of these raw materials.
Norway's mineral strategy states that critical minerals must be prioritized, that Norway must build up the world's most sustainable mineral industry and that the Fen Complex is an important national project.
Fensfeltet kan bli et viktig ledd i disse strategiene, med potensial som en betydelig ressurs for Europa.
Rare earths is a collective term used for 17 elements - or metals - that always occur together. These metals have both unusual physical and chemical properties that make them important in modern industry, and difficult to replace with other raw materials.
REE are often referred to as technology minerals or green minerals. These are some common areas of use:
Read more:
These are critical raw materials
The illustration below shows how a greener society requires a greater consumption of minerals.
REE are everywhere in our lives and in our communities. However, the supply of REE - extraction and production - is concentrated on a small number of countries, with China as the dominant player.
Manipulation of markets and disruptions of supply chanes can have major social, economic and political consequences. This is why the Norwegian government, EU, NATO, IAEA and USA defines REE as critical raw materials and strategic raw materials.
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In terms of volume, Fen is described as a very large deposit in a global context, and probably by far the largest in Europe. A conservative estimate suggests that the Fen Complex contains between 30 and 50 million tonnes of rare earths (TREO*).
At the same time, it is assumed that the grade (gehalten) is between 1 and 2 per cent, with several richer areas of 3 to 5 per cent.
It is rauhaugite (Fe-dolomite-carbonatite) that is of interest when it comes to REE in the Fen Complex. In the rauhaugite, the rare earths are bound in phosphate (monazite) and fluorocarbonates (bastnäsite).
In the red rock, that dominates the old iron mines on Fen, there are also rare earths, but here they appear much finer grained and are therefore difficult to extract. At the same time, the content of radioactive thorium is higher in the red rock.
READ MORE: More information about rare earths in the Fen Complex
China accounts for around 65 percent of rare earth extraction in the world, and controls over 80 percent of the market for separation and further processing. China also leads the field in the value chain of REE-mangets.
Europe's vulnerability is the backdrop to why the EU has set of to reducing dependence on China. In the EU CRMA* it states that 10 percent of critical raw materials must be covered by mining in Europe by 2030.
International events, such as the US-China trade war and the Ukraine war, have led to greater awareness of supply risks. Many countries are intensifying their efforts to reduce vulnerability. This also applies to Norway, which launched a new mineral strategy in the summer of 2023.
REE is used in technologies that is at the very center of the green transition. Strong growth in the demand for rare earths is therefore expected in the coming decades.
This will particularly apply to those the magnetic rare earths, such as neodymium (Nd) and dysprosium (Dy). These are metals that are included in the production of light, strong and durable magnets: So-called permanent or super magnets that provide a significant gain in both efficiency and maintenance.
The green transition requires increased use, reuse and extraction of a number of mineral resources. In many ways, it is the minerals that will take us from oil dependence and into renewables. The EU expects that Europe's demand for the most critical rare earths may increase tenfold by 2050.
IEA* establishes in a paper from 2021 that the transition to a green economy is the driving force behind increased demand for minerals.
«In a scenario that meets the Paris Agreement goals (as in the IEA Sustainable Development Scenario [SDS]), their share of total demand rises significantly over the next two decades to over 40% for copper and rare earth elements, 60-70% for nickel and cobalt, and almost 90% for lithium.»
The minerals found in the Fen Complex are highly relevant to much of NATO's defense systems. A number of military weapons and satellite systems would be more expensive, heavier and inferior without rare earths, reports airandspaceforces.com.
Just under half a ton (417 kilograms) of rare earths goes into making one F-35 aircraft, according to official figures from Congressional Research Service in USA.
In security policy, the states' strategic assessments are important, also when it comes to access to raw materials. This is especially true in a world where we see rising tension between different blocs, and increased rivalry between the US and China.
In connection with a Civita event in Oslo in December 2022 the Secretary General of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg, said this:
"Increased awareness of who to trade with in the future is important, as it is not possible to separate security and finance."
In a speech in June 2023 he also said that there are also “commercial risks in making oneself dependent on goods from authoritarian regimes. And I think we have learned the lesson from Russian gas.”
Our modern societies are dependent on REE.
Both the EU and Norway have promoted new strategies to reduce dependence on China, to secure supplies and to reduce vulnerability. The goal is also to establish their own robust value chains*, to ensure access to important infrastructure.
In the EU's Critical raw materials actCRMA*) the goal is a safe and sustainable supply of critical raw materials.
A response to this ambition can be found in Nome in Telemark. This paragraph is taken from Norway's mineral strategy:
"At the top of the EU's list of supply risks related to critical raw materials are the rare earth elements (REE). Norway has several interesting deposits of rare earths, the most important of which is the Fen Complex at Ulefoss in Telemark. The Fen Complex may turn out to be Europe's largest deposit of rare earths."
The strategy further states that the Fen "has the potential to become a very important project for Norway.
Today, Nome municipality is working on planning for the future development of the Fen Complex, and has launcheda local strategy that can be read here.In addition, the municipality has started work to look at future land use for mineral activities.
Fensfelet.no is owned by Nome municipality and Midt-Telemark og Nome utvikling AS (MTNU). The purpose of the website is to provide good and objective information about the Fen Complex to anyone who is interested.
