The company builds an R&D Center and a Demo Plant in Lulea, Sweden.
State-owned Swedish mining company LKAB has announced the next step towards diversifying its business with critical minerals. The mining company specializing in iron products will invest $75 million in a research and development center and a demonstration plant in the Swedish port town of Lulea. At the facilities, LKAB will focus on extracting and processing phosphorus and rare earth elements from material currently discarded at its iron ore mines. According to the company, this material has thus far been considered waste but holds vast quantities of critical minerals, which are difficult to recover, however. With the two facilities, LKAB hopes to utilize more of the material it already mines. The company added that it expects the plants to be operational by the end of 2026.
The facilities will use material from LKAB’s mine in Gällivare and eventually from the Per Geijer deposit near Kiruna once it is mined. According to LKAB, Per Geijer is essentially an iron deposit with high concentrations of phosphorus and rare earth elements. The discovery of the rare earth deposit made headlines in early 2023, when it was classified as Europe’s largest. Neighboring Norway and the Fen deposit have since claimed that title (we reported).
In August, LKAB submitted applications for three projects to be recognized as strategic under the Critical Raw Materials Act, a legislation with which the European Union aims to become less dependent on imports of critical minerals by ramping up domestic mining, processing, and recycling efforts. Strategic projects benefit from an accelerated approval process. Besides the venture in Lulea, the iron ore mine near Gällivare and the Per Geijer deposit were submitted by LKAB.
Photo: iStock/Sunshine Seeds
