Critical minerals, world’s largest deposit of phosphate rock discovered in Norway

Critical minerals worlds largest deposit of phosphate rock discovered in

(Finance) – In Norway a huge underground deposit of phosphate rock of high quality – thought to be the largest in the world – capable according to estimates of Norge Miningthe company that will exploit these resources, to meet the world demand Of fertilizers, panels solar And electric car batteries in the next 50 years. Notably, the Norwegian deposit is expected to contain at least 70 billion tons of ore, slightly less than the 71 billion tons of world reserves estimated by the US Geological Survey in 2021.

So far the largest deposit of phosphate rock discovered was in the region of Western Sahara of the Morocco and is about 50 billion tons. Other deposits of much smaller dimensions have also been discovered in China (3.2 billion tons), Egypt (2.8 billion tons) e Algeria (2.2 billion tons), again according to estimates by the American agency. “The discovery is truly great news, which would contribute to the objectives of the Commission’s proposal on the Critical Raw Material Act,” an EU executive spokesman told Euractiv.

The discovery is relevant because the rock phosphate is used in agriculture for the production of phosphorus for the fertilizer industry. To date 90% of phosphate rock mining is used in this industry for which there is no substitute. However, phosphorus is also used in the production of solar panels and lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) batteries for electric cars, as well as semiconductors and computer chips, albeit in much smaller quantities. The deposit also contains vanadium And titaniumwhich are also classified as critical raw materials by the EU.

The discovery by Norge Mining dates back to 2018 but it was originally estimated that the deposit extended only 300 meters below the surface: in reality, the company later discovered that it reaches up to 4,500 meters deep. Hence the announcement of the last few days. After the exploration phase, the Norwegian mining company is engaged in the next phase, namely that of production mining. To Euractiv the founder of Norge Mining, Michael Wurmsersaid the Norwegian government has already said it is “very supportive” of the project by announcing that by December it will approve all projects to extract critical raw materials in Norway.

However, the European Commission has classified phosphorus and phosphate rock as “critical” minerals but not as “strategic”, which are subject to a 40% domestic production benchmark and accelerated authorization rules. The CRM Act however, it is currently being examined by the European Parliament and the EU Member States and its final adoption should arrive by the end of the year.

(Photo: Max van den Oetelaar on Unsplash)

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