The rare earth war has arrived in Spain. And it is in Ciudad Real where mining and ecology are confronted
If there is an resource that dominates the geopolitical panorama of today, that is that of the Rare earth. Are essential for many technological fields among which are electric vehiclessystem elements renewable energies and the technological world in general, and China dominates both its mining and its production. The rest of the world seeks a new ‘El Dorado’ of Rare Earth to be able to exploit, and it turns out that In Spain there is a very sweet site. It is in Ciudad Real, but it will not be so easy to extract its resources. I have land (rare). In Spain it is estimated that there are several rare earth deposits. Mount Galiñeiro in Galicia is one of them, In Gran Canaria It is also estimated that there are large quantities, in Cádiz and Almería there are also deposits and more of the same Between Salamanca and Zamora. Another important site is in the field of Montiel, in Ciudad Real, and something that practically everyone has in common is that their extraction seems complicated. Not so much because of the technical issue (extracting rare earths is not a problem, neither does its production), but by the environmental counterpart. It is a potentially polluting activity that is very regular in Europe (that is why China was doing with all the control) and that meets an added inconvenience: Spanish deposits are usually close to environmental areas of interest. Matamulas. Although in recent years it has been evidenced that rare earths are a Throwing weapon on the world geopolitical stageit really has been looking for the independence of China for years. In 2015, the Spanish company Quantum Mining It started to study the land in the Manchega region of Campo de Montiel, where municipalities such as Valdepeñas or Torrenueva are located. In general, the area of mules, matamulas and auctione. It is Torrenueva the town that is right next to the great mining site that sought to exploit Quantum Mining And that, according to his studies, he is up to Monacita. Under this term we have elements and minerals such as Cerio, Neodimio, Torio or Lantano and is not very common in Europe. To the load. In a recent one video (Although, as we say, this comes from long), Quantum Mineria affirms that the production of Montiel’s Camp Build 350,000 electric cars or 10,000 wind generators. There is a problem: those rare earths are under large extensions of cultivation, mainly cereal. The company’s plan is to temporarily remove the half -meter vegetation layer that, they affirm, will carefully retain, once the mining process is over, restore it and leave it as it was. The backhoes remove the layer of land containing the monacite and all this takes to a plant in which the interesting thing is signed of what does not. This is done without using polluting chemicals and, once the monacite is on the one hand and the earth without interest on another, return it to the ground and place the previously removed crop. The machinery works by sectors of one hectare, without interrupting adjacent agriculture and claim that, once the land is restored, it can be re -cultivated “in better conditions than the originals.” Criticism. They complement their allegation by stating that they would create industry, help repopulate the area, attract jobs and encourage conditions for traditional agricultural and livestock activities. It is not something that has convinced neighbors or environmental organizations. In 2016, Ecologists in Action alleged that the environmental impact on the 27,500 hectares in which it was projected to work would be severe. Worry. Among other issues, water worried. From the organization, they affirmed that between 310,000 and 500,000 cubic meters of water a year, which would have to multiply for ten years of mining activity to cover all the estimated hectares. It was not logical in a region in which the problems of water supply in droughts are not rare, with overexploited aquifers and an intense agricultural activity of the economy in the area. Brake. To this we must add that in the area there are two Zepas (Areas of special protection for birds) and is a place of presence of the lynx. With all this in mind, and after two years of social struggle, the CLM government gave folder to the matter in 2017. Load return. In recent years, in different forums it has been followed defending The suitability of the area as a strategic enclave so that Spain – and Europe – stop depending both on the importation of strange earth elements of China, arguing that it is key to decarbonization and energy transition, but also defending the environmental respect of the activity. It was at the beginning of 2024 when Quantum Mining He returned To request permits to carry out a research project to quantify the amount of rare earths in the Montiel field, referring to the “high risk of supply interruptions” due to China’s strategic movements of the previous months. Quantum affirms that his process is respectful of existing crops Abandoned mines. Given this new attempt, environmentalist in action reacted again, but also proposed a solution. Joan Evans, responsible for mining in the organization, pointed out that the abandoned mines that are already in Spain could be exploited again, in whose dump there are “very important quantities” of rare earths. Before the resurgence of Quantum, both neighbors and the Diputación de Ciudad Real and the Platform ‘Yes to living earth‘They returned to oppose to the granting of permits. Given this new rejection, Javier Merino, president of Quantum Mining, affirmed that its activity would be “totally compatible with the traditional activities of the area” and that the rejection climate is due to the propagation of “false news with photographs of mining farms that have nothing to do with our project.” “The most ecological in the world”. As a support for the activities of Quantum, the Secretary General of Primigea -the Spanish Confederation of the Mineral Raw Materials Industries – affirmed Recently that “a … Read more
