Company sees Tanbreez as a “game changer” for the supply of critical raw materials.
Greenland is home to several untapped deposits of rare earths. Mining them could help Europe to reduce its heavy dependence on China for the supply of these raw materials. The Tanbreez deposit, located in the south of the country, is considered to be promising. According to Tanbreez Mining, around 19 million tons of rare earth oxide, including a large proportion of heavy rare earths, are believed to be present here. The company has a mining permit for the project. This in turn has attracted the interest of US-based Critical Metals Corp, which is seeking a 92.5 percent stake in Tanbreez Mining. This week, the existing stake was increased from 5.55% to 42%. A further increase is possible, but Critical Metals would have to invest ten million US dollars in exploration over the next two years, according to a press release.
Tanbreez is a eudialyte deposit. This mineral has a high proportion of heavy rare earths, which are currently mainly extracted from clay soils in Myanmar and China. However, the concentration of raw materials in eudialytes is comparatively low and extraction is complex and remains the subject of research projects.
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