The United States and Europe are preparing to keep up. Currently, only China and Russia have Australia's Tempriz | Mining Company | China and Russia
According to the website of the Frankfurt Report on July 30th, the Australian mining company Tempriz plans to mine rare earths in Greenland next year. "We can start production as early as next year," said Greg Barnes, the owner of the company and geologist, in an interview with the German Economic Weekly. The Deputy Minister of Mines of Greenland, Jon Hameken Holm, confirmed that a mining permit has been issued.
According to Barnes, the Tempriz mining area has "over half of the world's rare earth reserves.". He said there are a total of 19 million tons of rare earth oxides here, of which 30% are extremely popular heavy rare earths.
Rare earth elements include a total of 17 elements, each with unique characteristics and high industrial value. They are irreplaceable to a certain extent. For example, manufacturing electric vehicles or wind turbines requires rare earths.
Last year, Germany imported about two-thirds of its demand for rare earths from China. Extracting rare earths is difficult and often harmful to the environment, as rare earths are typically present in compounds in ore layers, and the chemical process for extracting rare earths requires the use of acids.
Barnes told Economic Weekly that in order to start mining in Greenland, there needs to be factories that can extract rare earths from opposite minerals. Currently, only Russia and China have such factories. However, the United States will establish such a factory in the coming months. Europe is also planning to build factories.
Due to technological advancements, the cost of extracting rare earth facilities from factories is now only about 40 million US dollars.
