LKAB takes the next step in its investment in critical minerals

LKAB’s board of directors has made an investment decision to establish a Research and Development centre and a Demonstration facility for processing of Phosphorous and Rare Earth Elements in Luleå, Sweden. The investment of approximately SEK 0,8 billion marks a significant next step in LKAB´s ongoing transition and investment in critical minerals.

“This is an important milestone for LKAB and our ambition to broaden our business with critical minerals. The investment decision builds further on our approach to realising our transition step by step, making well-informed decisions along the way. The Demonstration plant will give us the processing ability at smaller scale, while providing essential insights and facilitating future investments. This brings us one step closer to increase Europe´s self-sufficiency of critical minerals that are crucial for achieving electrification and climate transition,” says Jan Moström, President and CEO, LKAB.

The Demonstration facility is expected to be operational by the end of 2026 and will further develop the process of utilising material streams from LKAB’s iron ore production in Gällivare, which have thus far been considered mine waste. In the facility LKAB will verify the process for future supply and production of three products: phosphorus, often used in mineral fertilisers, rare earths elements for electric cars, wind turbines, defence industry and electronics, and pure gypsum.

In addition, this investment and facility will serve as an ongoing research and development centre, providing the opportunity to test and explore future potential sources for mineral processing. It will be a cornerstone of LKAB´s plans to make the necessary decisions for the planned upscaling of production and build a full-scale industrial park in Luleå.

“First and foremost, the plant will be an important step to verify our developed method to process and produce rare earth elements and phosphorus from today’s mine waste. By extracting critical minerals, we are utilising more of the material we are already mining. This could play a significant role in supporting future competitiveness as we need to expand our mines. All of this will be of great importance for us to continue our plans to scale up our production, both for our iron ore production and for us to be able to bring these important and critical minerals to the European market,” says Jan Moström.

At the close of 2023, LKAB’s mineral resources of REE oxides (Rare Earth Oxides) in the new deposit in Kiruna amounted to about 1,7 million tonnes in situ, making it one of Europe’s largest deposits of rare earth elements. The deposit is basically an iron ore deposit with high levels of both phosphorus and rare earth oxides. The investment in the research and development centre in the facility will enable continuous and further development of the technology and process for extracting phosphorus and rare earth elements from this and other potential mineralisations.

“Since the processes differ slightly depending on the source we use, we need to focus on research and development. This means that the investment goes beyond a demonstration purpose, with continuous research within rare earth elements, phosphorous and other minerals we wish to process. This enables us to explore the great expansion potential we have in our new Per Geijer deposit, as it is one of Europe’s largest deposits of rare earth elements. It’s a crucial step in making the necessary decisions towards scaling up our production in critical minerals,” says Darren Wilson, Senior Vice President, LKAB Business Area Special Products.

Background:

LKAB plans to begin extracting critical minerals in the existing iron ore mine in Gällivare with the establishment of a new processing plant for apatite. The apatite concentrate from Gällivare will then be transported to the planned industrial site and full-scale facility in Luleå. Here, LKAB plans to produce rare earth metal oxides, phosphoric acid for production of mineral fertiliser and gypsum. This will be accomplished by utilising material streams from iron ore production in Gällivare which have thus far been considered waste.

The EU classifies raw materials as critical due to high import dependency and great importance for our economy and the green transformation. This includes phosphorus and rare earth elements.

• Phosphorus is primarily used for the production of mineral fertilisers and Europe is 90 percent dependent on imports.
• Rare earth elements (REE) are used for example in permanent magnets in electric car motors and generators for wind turbines, where China dominates the value chain.

For interview requests, please contact:

Mikko Viitala, media contact LKAB
phone: +46 70 309 8163, mail: mikko.viitala@lkab.com

Media hotline: +46 771 76 00 10, redaktion@lkab.com

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