In its Arctic Economic Report 2024, released in September, the Arctic Economic Council (AEC) highlighted the potential for northern nations to dominate future global extraction of critical raw materials (CRM).
Citing a report by the International Energy Agency that sees demand for critical minerals nearly tripling by 2030, the AEC sees this trend as a “massive” opportunity to outfit remote Arctic communities with new extraction infrastructure that will benefit local and regional economies and thwart climate change.
The US Department of Energy defines a critical material as “any non-fuel mineral, element, substance, or material” with a “high risk” of supply chain disruption. Materials essential to energy technologies, including “technologies that produce, transmit, store, and conserve energy,” are of greatest concern. (see DOE video)
The AEC report says that “an overwhelming majority” of the materials typically needed for renewable energy production and storage are found in the Arctic. The region is sizable, has a stable mining sector, and a long history of Indigenous participation. It also upholds “some of the highest [mining] standards globally [with] fewer greenhouse gas emissions.”
As a result, the AEC thinks “the Arctic could be at the forefront of new ways of mining.”
The AEC report cites Northern Sweden’s steel industry’s conversion to “fossil-free production and mining” and the first rare earth elements (REE) deposit in Europe in Kiruna, Sweden, as examples of the region’s “ambition to mine new types of minerals.”
Additional Arctic mining opportunities include Europe’s largest gold deposit in Finnish Lapland, large deposits of nickel and cobalt in Greenland, one of the world’s largest zinc mines in Alaska, “one of the world’s richest reserves of high-grade iron” in Nunavut, “some of the largest [REE] deposits in the world” in Norway and Sweden, and the world’s largest producer of palladium in North Siberia.
The AEC report offered advice to policymakers on ways the region can realize its potential as a CRM production juggernaut:
The sparsely populated Arctic region has “worrying demographic trends.” To counter this, policymakers can increase training for local workers and make stronger efforts to recruit workers from outside the region. Local education can focus on vocational training and skills development.
Governments need to invest in building critical infrastructure, such as “roads, ports, rail, power lines and communications,” to attract private investments and benefit local communities.
There continues to be a need to “strengthen and ensure meaningful Indigenous and community consultation and participation” in mining expansion decisions.
Increased CRM mining must be seen as crucial to the national security of participating Arctic nations.
Development is needed to meet accelerating CRM demand and mitigate climate change. Thus, “faster responses on decisions from the public sector” are key to advancing mining in the Arctic.
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