This Friday, Trump and Zelenski will sign the agreement on minerals agreed after weeks of negotiations in which The US requested the “rare earths” of Ukraine as a requirement for the end of the war began more than three years ago, started after the Russian invasion In the early hours of February 24, 2022. an amount of natural resources that have been of great interest to the United States, and although they are exclusive land, the truth is that other countries such as Spain also have important “rare earths”even if they are not so well known or among the main world powers.
Rare earths form a group of seventeen essential chemical elements that guarantee important for the technological industry. Permanent chips or magnets For electric cars engines can be produced by these elements, whose magnetic, electronic and chemical properties are fundamental. They highlight the Neodimio, Disposio, Praseodimio and the iterbio, but there are also: Scandio, Itrio, Lantano, Cerio, Prometio, Samario, Europio, Gadolinio, Terbio, Holmio, Erbio, Tulio, Iterbio and Luthecio. With the exception of the scandio and the itit, the rest belong to the group of Lantanides.
His “rare” qualification is because they are difficult to find, then They are very scarce elements in the earth’s crust. On the other hand, the term “Earth” only refers to an ancient denomination of oxides and something that can be dissolved in acid.
Where are the “rare earths” in the world, the minerals that the US wishes of Ukraine, and how many Spain has
Thus, rare earth play a vital role in other advanced electronic components, and are used in Battery management systems and current investors. Likewise, various studies suggest that the need for these types of materials will multiply in the coming years due to Bounge technology and application in “clean”, such as wind turbines, solar panels or electric cars themselves.
But, despite his name “rare”, they are present in many countries. Based on data from 2023 collected by statista, China is the undisputed leader of rare earth reserveswith an estimated figure of 44,000 thousand metric tons. It is followed by Vietnam (22,000 tons), Brazil (21,000 tons) or Russia (10,000 tons). And very far, the United States (1,800 tons), hence its interest in charging the debt of the Ukraine War or the attempt to adhere Greenland (also with important natural resources), in the context of the chip war or the great technologies that it maintains with other world powers.
While it is true that Spain does not have a significant amount of rare earths, the truth is that it has several deposits that could be important in the future. A few months ago, in statements to La Razón, Ignacio Mártil, Professor of Electronics from the Complutense University of Madrid and member of the Royal Spanish Society of Physics, certified that “Spain has reservations of critical and rare earthly subjects that were exploited, perhaps We would not become self -sufficient, but we would drastically reduce our dependence on countries like China. ”
Thus, the Iberian massifwhich covers provinces such as Ávila, Salamanca, Zamora, Toledo or Ciudad Real, concentrates important granitic and pegmatitic formations. Also the Bética Cordillera or adjacent areas of Andalusia They are of important interest, or granitic and metamorphic formations of the Peninsular Northwest, specifically in Galicia and Asturias. “There are areas that house 10 % of the global tungsten reserves. If what is added in that area with what is found on the Portuguese side, the amount would rise to 20 %,” explained the professor.
And in the Guadalquivir basin, Regions have been detected where hydrothermal alteration and sediment mineralization can favor the accumulation of these elements. Even in Canary Islands, According to experts, there is the possibility of discovering rare earth deposits.