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Europe's largest deposit of rare earth metals discovered in Sweden

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Re: Europe's largest deposit of rare earth metals discovered in Sweden

#91

Post by LeonB »

tokai wrote: post #59
esel2k wrote: post #10

Kiruna has a long history about mining incl world war II importance for iron. Also due execessive minig the whole town needed to be moved: “In 2004, it was decided that the present centre of the municipality would have to be relocated to counter mining-related subsidence.[29] The relocation would be made gradually over the coming decade. On January 8, 2007, a new location was proposed, northwest to the foot of the Lu…

Yeah the Swedes helped Nazi Germany immensely selling them high quality iron. There were invasion plans drawn up going from German controlled Narvik to Kiruna, but the Swedes was so accommodating that it wasn't needed.

The Swedes helped the Allies also.

Re: Europe's largest deposit of rare earth metals discovered in Sweden

#92

Post by aliswe »

323 wrote: post #73
qwerty456127 wrote: post #62

Isn't rare earth metals mining insanely pollutive? I've heard they can be found all over the world but only China mines them massively because nobody else is willing to destroy their ecology.

One could argue that it's so cold in Sweden there isn't really an ecology there.

Good one!

Re: Europe's largest deposit of rare earth metals discovered in Sweden

#93

Post by belorn »

qwerty456127 wrote: post #62

Isn't rare earth metals mining insanely pollutive? I've heard they can be found all over the world but only China mines them massively because nobody else is willing to destroy their ecology.

The underground mine has been operating for 70 years, and is according to the company the largest iron mine in the world. The location itself has been a place for top mining since 1642. The site has grown so much that the mining town that was built next to it has been forced to physically relocate their old buildings in order to extend the mine.

Re: Europe's largest deposit of rare earth metals discovered in Sweden

#94

Post by aliswe »

wyuenho wrote: post #53

For a block that won't even grant a rocket launchpad permit, I'd say this timeline is probably optimistic. If we look at how other permit processes have worked within our industry, it will be at least 10-15 years before we can actually begin mining and deliver raw materials to the market.

Politically motivated comment?

Re: Europe's largest deposit of rare earth metals discovered in Sweden

#95

Post by lm28469 »

323 wrote: post #73
qwerty456127 wrote: post #62

Isn't rare earth metals mining insanely pollutive? I've heard they can be found all over the world but only China mines them massively because nobody else is willing to destroy their ecology.

One could argue that it's so cold in Sweden there isn't really an ecology there.

Earth is mostly uninhabited anyways, we can go at it!

Re: Europe's largest deposit of rare earth metals discovered in Sweden

#96

Post by spoiler »

counttheforks wrote: post #71
MasterYoda wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quite impressive that little Sweden has found the second most elements in the world, 19 of them. https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/legac...

[flagged]

I think they used impressive colloquially. I guess more fitting would be "interesting/amusing"

Although, I think yours is a far bigger offence: being intentionally ignorant for the purpose of being an asshole online

Re: Europe's largest deposit of rare earth metals discovered in Sweden

#97

Post by jeltz »

robin_reala wrote: post #81
Majestic121 wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Indeed, good catch : > Thorium was discovered in 1828 by the Norwegian amateur mineralogist Morten Thrane Esmark and identified by the Swedish chemist Jöns Jacob Berzelius, who named it after Thor, the Norse god of thunder. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thorium

There’s also tungsten: “tung” is heavy, and “sten” stone in Swedish.

Which interestingly is called Volfram in Swedish.

Re: Europe's largest deposit of rare earth metals discovered in Sweden

#98

Post by lm28469 »

pastage wrote: post #79
ciconia wrote: post #69

> "This is good news, not only for LKAB, the region and the Swedish people, but also for Europe and the climate... No, this is not good news. Mining is one of the most polluting human activities there is. In addition, all those machines used for digging and pulverizing the minerals, they run on petrol. In fact, the entire value chain from raw mineral to finished product, be it solar panels, wind turbine, or the lates…

With that logic anything we do for the climate is green washing. While your thoughts are catching on, Sweden has always been a nation of mining.

> With that logic anything we do for the climate is green washing

If the goal is to stay in our "growth forever and ever and ever" scheme then yes

Re: Europe's largest deposit of rare earth metals discovered in Sweden

#100

Post by hutzlibu »

ciconia wrote: post #69

> "This is good news, not only for LKAB, the region and the Swedish people, but also for Europe and the climate... No, this is not good news. Mining is one of the most polluting human activities there is. In addition, all those machines used for digging and pulverizing the minerals, they run on petrol. In fact, the entire value chain from raw mineral to finished product, be it solar panels, wind turbine, or the lates…

"If we really care about our future a whole different approach is needed."

Well yes, the current econony (and mining) mostly runs on fossil fuels, that doesn't mean it has to stay that way.

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2290944-how-electrifica...

But since there is no magic spell bringing them into existence just like that, yes, the transition is powered by fossil fuels. How else could it work?

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