If there is a resource that dominates the geopolitical panorama of today, that is that of rare earths. They are essential for many technological fields, among which are electric vehicles, renewable energy system elements and the technological world in general, and China dominates both their mining and their production. The rest of the world seeks a new ‘El Dorado’ of Rare Earths to be able to explode, 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. Monte 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 thrown weapon on the world geopolitical stage, it really takes years to look for China’s independence. In 2015, the Spanish company Quantum Mining began studying the land in the Montiel Manchega region of 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 their studies, 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 video (although, as we say, this comes long), Quantum Mineria affirms that the production of Montiel field monacita can be 2,100 tons per year, a figure that would cover a third of the European consumption needs of these elements with those that could be built 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 claimed that the environmental impact on the 27,500 hectares in which work was projected 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 folded to the matter in 2017.
Load return. In recent years, in different forums the suitability of the area has continued to be defended 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 The energy transition, but also defending the environmental respect of the activity.
It was at the beginning of 2024 when Quantum Mining requested 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 the strategic movements of China 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.
Given the resurgence of Quantum, both neighbors and the Diputación de Ciudad Real and the platform ‘Yes to the Living Earth’ were opposed to the granting of permits. Given this new rejection, Javier Merino, president of Quantum Mineria, said that his activity would be “fully 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 They have nothing to do with our project. ”
“The most ecological in the world”. As a boost for Quantum’s activities, the Secretary General of Primigea – the Spanish Confederation of the Mineral raw materials industries – recently said that “an opportunity is being allowed to pass.” It also considers that the exploitation would be “the simplest and most ecological of the world” due to the processes of land and restoration that we commented on some paragraphs.
For his part, Teresa Llorens Golzález, told 20 minutes that “current mining is very different from what was carried out in the last century,” referring to the restrictive mining and environmental regulations in Spain that it would not allow damage to the environment.
Gunpowder and Seprona. The situation has been enchanted and the culminating point arrived last December. ‘Yes to the living land’ shared the complaint that the nature protection service of the Civil Guard had elevated against Quantum Mining for performing alleged illegal activities when looking for resources without authorization.
From Quantum they insisted again that the environmental platform misrepresent the reality to stain the image of the company and its activity. Recently, the Torrenueva City Council returned to make a round table with the participation of neighbors, associations and groups to discuss these actions, and one of the wineries in the region also joined that rejection of a project that we have not yet seen The last chapters.
Images | Change, Mineral Quantum, Tom Fisk
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