European leaders sometimes suck up to China’s oppressive dictator, Xi Jinping, partly because of how much resources China controls. China mines 70% of the world’s rare Earth elements, and processes some of the remaining rare Earth elements. But now, a big supply of rare Earth elements has been found in a Norwegian volcano. Hopefully, this will reduce Europe’s dependence on China. Live Science reports:
The heart of an ancient volcano in Norway hosts Europe’s largest deposit of rare earth elements, according to the mining company Rare Earths Norway.
On June 6, the company released a report on the deposit, which found that there is an estimated 8.8 megatons of rare earth oxides available in the outcrop. About 1.5 megatons of that is expected to be rare earth magnets, which are used in wind turbines and electric vehicles….The deposit, known as the Fen Carbonatite Complex, sits southwest of Oslo near Lake Norsjø. Some 580 million years ago, the complex was the pipe of an active volcano. Now long dead, the upper part of the volcano has eroded away, exposing this magma-filled pipe, which is about 1.2 miles (2 kilometers) in diameter, to the surface.
The magma solidified into carbonatite, which is rock chock-full of minerals that bear certain forms of carbonate molecules. According to Rare Earths Norway, this once-molten magma now holds economically important rare earth elements such as neodymium — a metallic element used to make magnets — and praseodymium, also used in magnets as well as in other applications like aircraft engines.
The mining company estimate focuses on the upper portion of the ancient volcano’s guts, down to 1,535 feet (468 meters) below sea level. According to the company statement, there are likely deposits down to about 3,300 feet (1,000 m) below sea level.
Another thing that might reduce western dependence on China is the production of lithium-free sodium batteries. A few of those batteries are already being produced in America. China produces 75% of the world’s lithium-ion batteries, and processes 60% of the world’s lithium.
In January, artificial intelligence discovered a new material that could potentially replace lithium in many batteries: “Microsoft’s researchers used AI and supercomputers to narrow down 32 million potential materials to 18 promising candidates in just 80 hours. A spokesperson for the company said this significantly shortened a process that would have traditionally taken decades.”
A volcano in the U.S. may contain a huge amount of lithium, but the U.S. processes only 2% of the world’s lithium, and currently has little capacity to process lithium. Some major lithium producers like Australia send most of their lithium to China to be processed.
A vast, untapped source of lithium has been discovered in Pennsylvania, but it may be tied up for many years. The Great Salt Lake may also contain a great deal of lithium.
