00:00Imagine a little nightmare.
00:03The smartphones and portable smartphones
00:05are not working anymore.
00:06More screens LED,
00:07nor internet fast.
00:09More lenses of vision nocturnes,
00:11not an industry,
00:12nor an appareil DRM.
00:14The modern world,
00:15as we know,
00:16is evaporated.
00:18It's to say the importance
00:19of rare teres.
00:20Good news!
00:22The south of Norway
00:24would be much bigger
00:25than we thought about it.
00:27The rare teres regroupent
00:2917 elements
00:30like the cerium,
00:32the terbium
00:32or the promethium.
00:34Their names are rare.
00:36But this is not really the case.
00:38We found almost everywhere
00:40in the forest.
00:41Even in a garden,
00:43we would surely find
00:43some traces.
00:46We say rare
00:47because it is difficult
00:48to find enough
00:49to extract and use them.
00:52The real problem
00:53is not their presence.
00:55It is not enough
00:56to have enough
00:56at the same place.
00:57Often,
00:58they are dispersées,
00:59mêlées
01:00to other rocks
01:00and it is impossible
01:01to recover
01:02and then use them immediately.
01:05It is also difficult
01:07It is also a lot of treatment,
01:09a lot of chemical products
01:09and industrial materials
01:11which makes the extraction
01:12very cost.
01:14However,
01:15they are essential today.
01:16Today,
01:18batteries,
01:19phones,
01:19computers,
01:20IRM
01:21and oil
01:21are also
01:22in the radars
01:24and the technologies
01:25of vision nocturne.
01:26The demand
01:27increases very quickly.
01:29Or,
01:30opening a new mine
01:31often takes very long
01:32often,
01:32sometimes 15-20 years
01:34between discovery
01:34and production,
01:36with the permits,
01:37tests
01:38and the jobs
01:38in 2024.
01:41The Norwegian
01:41was estimated
01:42at about
01:438,8 millions
01:45of tons
01:45of rich material
01:46and rare.
01:47It was already
01:48huge
01:48for Europe.
01:50But the teams
01:51continued to
01:52for and verify
01:53the ground
01:53and in 2026,
01:55a new estimate
01:56arrived.
01:5815,9 millions
01:59of tons,
02:00almost the double
02:01like finding
02:02a second
02:03full full
02:03next to the first.
02:05And it is not
02:06a simple
02:07assumption.
02:08To verify,
02:09the teams have already
02:10for about
02:1198,000
02:12feet
02:12directly
02:13on the site.
02:15It is almost
02:16the height
02:17of 30
02:17Burj Khalifa
02:18Enpilés.
02:19Only in 2025,
02:21they have still
02:2133,000 feet
02:23of more.
02:25They have
02:25studied the site
02:26to estimate
02:27what it contains,
02:28the quantity
02:29available
02:29and the exact
02:30of the resource.
02:32Just recently,
02:33the most
02:34European European
02:35known
02:35was in Sweden.
02:37We estimated
02:38about 1,3
02:40million
02:40of tons
02:41more than
02:432,2
02:44million
02:44but the
02:46Norwegian
02:46is in another
02:48category.
02:49The experts
02:50look at
02:50this site
02:51differently.
02:52Before,
02:52we saw a
02:53promising
02:54today,
02:56we are talking
02:58about a real
02:58strategic resource
02:59that can play
03:01an important role
03:02in the future
03:02of the
03:04key materials.
03:05And it is crucial
03:06because Europe
03:07does not produce
03:08almost
03:08its materials.
03:09It is crucial
03:22to create
03:23a complete
03:24chain
03:24local
03:24extraction,
03:25treatment,
03:25then fabrication
03:26and fabrication
03:27of finished
03:27products.
03:28And it is
03:32very important
03:33to create
03:33a complete
03:33chain
03:33local
03:34extraction,
03:36treatment,
03:37then fabrication
03:38of
03:38pieces finies
03:39that
03:39as
03:39as
03:39all
03:40as
03:40as
03:40as
03:40all restored to the same place, with a chain more sure and more fiable.
03:45A large part of the gisement, about 19%,
03:49contains above all the Néodyme and Praséodyme.
03:52These two elements are essential to make very powerful elements,
03:56which the performance machines need.
03:59At large scale, there is no substitute for NDPR.
04:05For powerful and efficient technologies, these materials are indispensable.
04:10The site also contains other useful resources,
04:13such as the Niobium and the Thorium, which have their own uses.
04:18For example, the Thorium already interests the medicine,
04:21and maybe the energy of the future.
04:24The Niobium makes the steel more solid and lighter,
04:28useful in the buildings, the automobile and the pipelines.
04:31Today, Europe has no single mine of rare land in activity.
04:35At the same time, the demand for these materials increases quickly.
04:38With the electric vehicles and renewable energy.
04:42The difference is clear.
04:44Europe needs more materials.
04:47But it also needs to be imported from the outside.
04:50This is why the Norwegian site counts as well.
04:53It is vast and contains the good mix.
04:56This is a major strategic resource.
04:59It could reduce the importations
05:01and give Europe more control
05:03on the provision of these critical materials.
05:07In addition, the size of the gisement makes the project more viable.
05:10The problem is that a mine costs very much to launch.
05:15It needs routes, materials, permits and equipment.
05:18And all this costs much.
05:20If the gisement is small,
05:22its costs may be too high.
05:24But with a large gisement,
05:25the same expenses are divided into much more materials.
05:31Here, only the most precious part,
05:34the NDPR,
05:35represents about 3 millions of tons.
05:39It's enough to support a real production at large scale.
05:42L'entreprise affirme pouvoir couvrir environ 5% de la demande européenne.
05:49Vers 2032.
05:50Au départ,
05:51elle vise environ 800 tonnes par an.
05:54Elle travaille aussi sur une nouvelle méthode d'extraction.
05:58Appelée mine invisible.
06:00Au lieu de déchirer la surface comme une mine classique,
06:03elle travaille surtout sous terre
06:05et limite au maximum les dégâts visibles.
06:08L'entreprise a déjà signé des accords préliminaires
06:11pour vendre tout le thorium attendu.
06:13Les acheteurs sont donc là avant même l'exploitation complète.
06:18Mais malgré tout cela,
06:20le projet n'est pas encore prêt.
06:22Un permis clé existe déjà.
06:24L'autorisation d'extraire la matière du sol.
06:28Il manque encore l'autorisation de lancer l'exploitation complète.
06:32Et cette étape peut prendre pas mal de temps.
06:35En Europe,
06:36les projets miniers avancent souvent lentement.
06:38Entre études environnementales, inquiétudes locales et longues validations.
06:44Même si la production est visée fin 2031,
06:47cette date peut encore bouger.
06:48Si tout se passe comme prévu,
06:51le site atteindrait environ 800 tonnes par an en 2032,
06:56soit près de 5% de la demande européenne.
06:59Ce n'est pas énorme.
07:01Mais c'est un vrai début.
07:03Surtout quand on sait qu'aujourd'hui,
07:05l'Europe dépend presque entièrement des importations pour ces matériaux.
07:09Ces matériaux font partie des plus critiques qui existent.
07:13La Commission européenne les classe à haut risque,
07:16car il y a une vraie menace de rupture d'approvisionnement.
07:20Bref, trouver la matière est une chose.
07:22L'extraire, la traiter,
07:24puis la transformer en une chaîne d'approvisionnement fiable,
07:27c'est beaucoup plus difficile.
07:29La question est donc simple.
07:31L'Europe saura-t-elle vraiment utiliser les terres rares qu'elle a trouvées ?
07:35Pendant ce temps, la plus grande mine mondiale
07:38se trouve dans le nord de la Chine, en Mongolie intérieure.
07:42Elle s'appelle Bayan Obo
07:44et contient plus de 40% des réserves connues.
07:48De terres rares,
07:49tout en produisant près de la moitié de l'offre mondiale.
07:52Ce n'est pas une mine ordinaire, mais un immense complexe à ciel ouvert.
07:57Il compte 3 grandes fosses.
08:00Principale, Est et Ouest.
08:02La principale mesure environ 1500 sur 1000 mètres.
08:07Au total, la zone minière couvre environ 49 km².
08:11Presque une petite ville.
08:13Plus de 200 minéraux y ont été trouvés.
08:16Et de nouveaux apparaissent encore.
08:19Certains ont été identifiés d'abord à Bayan Obo, d'où leur nom.
08:23A l'origine, ce n'était même pas une mine de terres rares.
08:27En 1927, on l'avait d'abord découverte comme un simple gisement de minerais de fer.
08:32Plus tard seulement, on a compris qu'elle cachait l'une des plus grandes sources mondiales de terres rares.
08:38Voilà !
08:38Voici encore plus tard.
Comments