BLM’s Nevada Geothermal Lease Auction Signals Rising Competition for Federal Energy Land The Bureau of Land Management’s latest geothermal lease sale in Nevada attracted nearly $4.83 million in total receipts, highlighting growing investor interest in geothermal resources as electricity demand rises . The auction also exposed an increasingly important land-use conflict: several geothermal parcels overlap with proposed utility-scale solar projects, including NextEra Energy’s 1,000-megawatt Sawtooth Energy Center. The October 20, 2026, sale offered 83 parcels covering approximately 265,155 acres across 10 Nevada counties. Bidders placed offers on 60 parcels covering 186,641 acres, while 23 parcels received no bids. The results provide a new measure of competition for federal geothermal acreage in one of the United States’ most important geothermal states. Auction Results The Nevada auction attracted 32 registered bidders, of which 18 submitted at least one bid. Across the sale, bidders s...
LKAB owns and run the Kiruna ore mine, which is Europe’s largest underground iron ore operation. (Image courtesy of LKAB.)
LKAB, Swedish state-owned mining company, said it had found Europe’s largest known deposit of rare earths close to Kiruna, the country’s northernmost town.
This discovery might unchain the continents dependence in mining from the China.
98% of the group of 17 minerals used in electric vehicles (EVs), portable electronics, wind turbines and military equipment are produced by the nation.
According to LKAB, the Per Geijer deposit, north of the company’s largest iron ore mine in the Swedish Arctic, is estimated to contain more than 1 million tonnes of rare earths.
Developments still in exploratory phase with the full extent of the deposit is not known.
“It will be at least 10 to 15 years before we can actually begin mining and deliver raw materials to the market,” chief executive officer Jan Mostrom said in the statement, citing a timeline derived from other permitting processes in the industry.
LKAB plans an application for an exploration concession this year, before seeking permits.
Mostrom called on the European Commission to speed up and streamline those processes as part of its Critical Raw Materials Act, which is expected to be announced in March this year.
Sweden plays a pivotal role in the European Union’s renewable energy quest, supplying about 90% of the continent’s iron ore. Most of the steelmaking commodity is mined at LKAB’s operations.
Source: Mining.com
#Sweden #Renewableenergy #RareEarths #Europe
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