Rare Earth Mining: Sacrificing the Environment to Save the Planet?

The Norra Karr deposit of rare earth elements is situated in the southern part of Sweden, on the shores of Lake Vattern, one of the largest lakes on the Scandinavian Peninsula.  Vast reserves of fresh water coexist here with equally immense reserves of rare earth elements.  Lake Vattern provides drinking water to 500,000 households. Farms and homes located within a two-kilometer radius of the proposed mine are dependent on the lake’s water supply, as well as a rich biodiverse landscape around the lake.  This 110-million-ton mineral deposit is estimated to contain approximately half a million tons of REE comprising both heavy and light elements found in eudialyte and catapleiite minerals embedded in granite.  The development of such a deposit situated 1.5 kilometers from the lake’s shoreline and up to 120 meters above its level poses a threat to the unique Natura 2000 protected ecosystems. Extraction of the minerals may lead to irreversible pollution of the lake. This deposit contains earth metals in immediate proximity to toxic radionuclides such as uranium and thorium. These toxic elements won’t be removed but rather left in the waste to be stored onsite.  One way out would be energy conservation combined with the extraction of rare earth elements from historically accumulated industrial waste and tailings from old mining.