Leading Edge Secures Rare Earth Mining Lease for Norra Kärr

The Swedish government has granted a 25-year exploitation concession to Leading Edge Materials (TSXV:LEM,OTCQB:LEMIF) for the Norra Kärr heavy rare earth elements project, one of Europe's richest rare earth element deposits.

The firm's Swedish subsidiary GREENNA Mineral AB holds the mining lease and is permitted extraction at a deposit holding high concentrations of dysprosium, terbium, and yttrium.

The Swedish Mining Inspectorate and the Geological Survey of Sweden both granted their recommendations for the lease after concluding that securing domestic supplies of these critical raw materials outweighed competing land-use interests.

Europe currently operates no rare earth mines and relies almost entirely on imports. According to European Commission data, the EU consumes approximately 20,000 tons of permanent magnets annually, with 17,000 to 18,000 tons imported directly from China.

Under the EU Critical Raw Materials Act, member states are targeted to source at least 10 percent of their annual strategic raw material consumption from domestic extraction by 2030.

The region’s supply chain vulnerabilities were further exposed in 2025 when Beijing restricted exports of heavy rare earths.

Following those controls, European dysprosium prices surged to US$950 per kilogram from US$280 per kilogram. Terbium reached US$4,000 per kilogram in Europe, a four-fold premium over domestic Chinese prices.

Yttrium oxide, which accounts for 34 percent of Norra Kärr's in-situ total rare earth oxide resource, reached US$270 per kilogram in Europe compared to a Chinese free-on-board price of US$11 per kilogram.

“The Government's decision affirms that this is a strategically important heavy rare earth deposit, located in a Tier 1 jurisdiction, with the capacity to supply all of Europe's annual dysprosium requirements alongside meaningful terbium and yttrium production,” Leading Edge CEO Kurt Budge said.

Unlike standard light rare earth projects, Norra Kärr contains a 2.5-to-1 ratio of neodymium-praseodymium to dysprosium-terbium, compared to an industry peer average of 38.5-to-1.

A 2021 preliminary economic assessment projected a 26-year mine life producing an average of 5,340 tons of mixed rare earth oxides annually from approximately 30 percent of the project's inferred resource.

Leading Edge will now update its pre-feasibility study and formally initiate Sweden’s environmental permitting process. The company stated it will also consider reapplying for Strategic Project designation under the EU Critical Raw Materials Act to streamline regulatory timelines and potentially unlock European financing.

The Norra Kärr approval coincides with wider Swedish efforts to establish a domestic upstream supply base. In Kiruna, state-owned miner LKAB is currently tunneling to connect its Per Geijer rare earth deposit to existing underground infrastructure and has invested 80 million euros into a demonstration separation plant in Luleå.

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Securities Disclosure: I, Giann Liguid, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.