As the processes of Digitization and Energy transition They have developed, society has begun to demand raw materials that, until 40 or 50 years ago they had no value or use. Its properties make these matters that are ideal to be part of the most competent technology. However, they have the added problem that they do not abound in nature and that they are not distributed equally by the planet. All this has led us to a career in which we all long for these subjects.
In recent times, both the lithium like the Rare earth They are the ones that have monopolized the most owners, for being one of the essential materials for the manufacture of electric vehicles; The second, following the recent American claim to control the deposits that Ukraine possesses in exchange for achieving peace for the country and although it is common to hear of both as if they were the same, the truth is that They are not.
Since 2011 the European Commission periodically update your list of fundamental raw materials based on two criteria: that they have economic relevance and that are difficult to access. Thus, the list went from including 11 subjects to Current 34. But, in addition, it establishes a subdivision for those more exclusive or critical subjects, in which 17 strategic fundamental raw materials enter – among those that appear, for example, lithium. Within these last strategic subjects, rare earths are integrated, a set of 17 chemical elements and 15 lantanids, called not because of their shortage, which also, but because of their difficulty in finding them in the earth’s cortex purely.
Well, today, There is no operational mine in Spain that extract rare earths, and the deposits or indications that there can be practically on the fingers. According to the platform European Gelological Data Infrastructure (Edgi), which has a wide catalog with more than 5,700 European geological data and services sets and that has the participation of the Geological and Mining Institute of Spain (IGME), There are only two places where indications have been found that the presence of rare earths: between the municipalities of Torrenueva and Torre de Juan Abad (Ciudad Real), And on Mount Galiñeiro, between Vigo and Gondomar (Pontevedra).
It is also speculated that there may be in Formentera and in Cáceres, although they are more speculations than contrasted data. The one that drags the most interest is the city of the city of Matamulasfor which the Spanish mining company Quantum Mining He already presented his own mining project and is in an early administrative phase.
Not just rare earths
Beyond rare earths, there are other important indications on deposits throughout the country in terms of fundamental and critical raw materials. According to the data of the same database, in total there are More than 300 indications that prove the presence of large and medium deposits – regarding the average size of the deposits around the world. It should be noted that there are many more with smaller dimensions, but they have not been represented on the map.
Most of these indications correspond to copper and wolframium deposits (also called Tungsten), and are mainly located by the area of Sierra Morena and through the Galicia Tras -os-Montes area (Galicia and Castilla y León), respectively. In this same dispersion and also by the Coastal-Catalana mountain range Barita indications emerge, used in drilling sludge.
By quantity and dimension, the signs of fluorine spathing also stand out, present in fluior, and manganese acid, also available in the Bética mountain range. After these, there are great signs of bismuth (present in cosmetics), tantalium (electronics), arsenic (varied uses), feldspar (glass and ceramics), antimony (semiconductors), nickel (steel, batteries or coins) or cobalt (various industrial uses).
As for the lithiumits presence in large dimensions – there are other indications of less entity not represented on the map – is reserved for two locations: Salamanca and Cáceres, being precisely the second enclave that has harvested the most media attention after the interest of the Australian Infinity Lithium For the mine of San José de Valdeflores.
According to an investigation published at the end of 2023 by Investigate Europeonly 10 mines exploit these types of subject in Spain: four are dedicated to copper In Huelva, Sevilla and Asturias (dyed waters, Magdalena and Sotiel, Las Cruces, Río Río and El Valle Boinás), two to strontium In Granada (Montevive and Listen), two others to the fluorite In Asturias and Granada (Moscona, Cucona, Emilio and La Viesca, and Órgiva), another to the niobium and al Tantaloin Ourense (Penouuta), and another to Wolframioin Salamanca (Barruecopardo). After them, there are companies based in Spain (Bruno, Minersa, Minera de Órgiva), but especially with international venues, from Canada, France, Australia or Cyprus.
Similarly, developing mining projects come mainly from Spain, but also from companies based in Mexico or Luxembourg.
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