It's a journey to the center of the rare earths discovered in Sweden
Sweden says it found the largest deposit in Europe of rare earths — ingredients in a host of technologies from e-vehicles to wind turbines. Mining and processing them is another story.
KIRUNA, Sweden — There are a number of sensations you experience as you make the 30-minute descent by pickup truck into the main tunnel of the LKAB iron ore mine in Kiruna, Sweden's northernmost city. Your skin becomes noticeably drier, your ears pop and it's hard to shake a feeling of isolation as the truck twists and turns on the darkened road, guided only by reflectors on the tunnel's reinforced gray, stone walls.
When you finally reach the bottom, more than 4,000 feet beneath Earth's surface, you discover a complex of brightly
