Privately held developer Rare Earths Norway approved construction of a €24-million (C$38 million) pilot plant to test processing of material from its Fen project, advancing efforts to turn Europe’s largest documented rare earths deposit into a source of permanent-magnet ingredients. The facility in Ulefoss, about 160 km southwest of Oslo, is scheduled to start operating in the third quarter of 2027, the company said Tuesday. Funding includes €5.4 million from Innovation Norway and €1.9 million from the Telemark Development Fund. Other contributions weren’t specified. “This investment is a concrete step towards bringing the Fen deposit into production,” Rare Earths Norway CEO Håvard Moe said in the statement. “The pilot will allow us to validate our processing route, generate essential operating data and supply rare earth products to European partners for test production of metal and magnets.” News of the investment comes as European Union (EU) member countries step up efforts to cut their dependence on Chinese rare earths and magnets. Fen holds neodymium and praseodymium – two rare earth elements that are used in powerful magnets for electric vehicles, wind turbines and defence equipment, giving the project significance beyond Norway. “Europe’s dependence on imported rare earths is a strategic vulnerability we can no longer afford to ignore,” Bernd Schäfer, CEO of the Berlin-based EIT RawMaterials consortium, said in the statement. EIT, an EU-backed raw materials innovation network, is providing funding for the Norwegian project. Integrated route Rare Earths Norway aims to begin extracting rare earths commercially in the early 2030s. Until then, the pilot plant will test an integrated route from ore to rare earth oxides, generate operating data and supply products to European partners for trial production of metals and magnets. It will sit inside an existing industrial building. A resource update for Fen released in March outlined 123 million indicated tonnes grading 1.35% total rare earth oxides, containing about 1.7 million tonnes of oxides. Inferred resources totalled 1.08 billion tonnes grading 1.31%, containing 14.2 million tonnes. The resource has an effective Dec. 31 date. Combined contained oxides rose about 80% from the 8.8 million tonnes reported in 2024. The estimate also established Fen’s first indicated resource, a category carrying greater geological confidence than inferred material. Neodymium and praseodymium oxides account for about 19% of total rare earth oxides in the indicated category. The expansion reflected additional drilling and changes to Rare Earths Norway’s proposed mining approach. The company had analysed about 30,000 metres of drill core, including 10,000 metres from last year’s exploration campaign. Its design increased the protective rock layer between underground openings and the surface to 100 metres from 25 metres. National interest Norway’s government took over the zoning process in April because the development involves matters of national interest. In September, the government set an ambition to complete the plan by 2028, preferably by the end of next year. The process will determine locations and conditions for underground mining, processing facilities, tailings storage and infrastructure. A pilot application published by Norway’s Environment Agency in March envisaged processing 6,000 tonnes of ore over three years to optimize concentrate production.
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