A massive underground deposit of high-grade phosphate rock in Norway, pitched as the world’s largest, is big enough to satisfy world demand for fertilisers, solar panels and electric car batteries over the next 100 years, according to the company exploiting the resource.
By far the largest phosphate rock deposits in the world – around 50 billion tonnes – are situated in the Western Sahara region of Morocco.
The next biggest are located in China (3.2 billion tonnes), Egypt (2.8 billion tonnes), and Algeria (2.2bn tonnes), according to US estimates.
In an emailed statement to EURACTIV, the European Commission welcomed confirmation of the massive Norwegian deposit of phosphate rock.
About 90% of the world’s mined phosphate rock is used in agriculture for the production of phosphorous for the fertiliser industry, for which there is currently no substitute.
But phosphorous is also used in the production of solar panels and lithium-iron-phosphate batteries (LFP) for electric cars, as well as semiconductors and computer chips – although in small quantities.
Future supply disruptions are therefore “likely to be geopolitical and economic in nature, long before global reserves are exhausted,” it adds. »
