The discovery site is located about four miles from an area around Olserum, which in 2023 was designated as a national interest due to its findings. At the new site, Öbälen, the levels are comparable, writes the Swedish Geological Survey (SGU) in a press release.
The discovery is a result of investigations conducted within the framework of a government assignment. Other interesting finds have also been made in the area, such as elevated levels of, among other things, phosphate, copper, uranium, vanadium, and chromium.
"The fact that we have found entirely new deposits of rare earth metals shows how important these investigations are for mapping the occurrence of critical and strategic raw materials in Sweden", says Alexander Lewerentz, state geologist and project leader at SGU, in the press release.
Today, the majority of the extraction of rare earth metals takes place in China. The demand for them has increased due to their role in the green transition, and the EU has tightened the requirements on member states for increased domestic production.
