New perspective for the Maritsa Basin, if the presence of rare earth elements is proven

Coal will remain the leading mineral for Maritsa East Mine, but the possible presence of rare earth elements may provide a new vision for the future of the company, and of the complex as a whole. This was commented to journalists by the Minister of Energy Zhecho Stankov on the sidelines of a round table in Sofia on the topic "Financing the Stone", organized by PRISM.

The Minister explained that based on reports far back in time, the complex in the Maritsa Basin, where lignite coal for thermal power plants is mined, has preliminary information that rare earth elements are contained. "Of course, this must be further studied, there must be specific information on this issue and it must happen with a business initiative," he said, specifying that the mines are being assisted in sending samples to various institutes, which will also provide additional information that will serve to specify the possibilities on the territory of the country.

"Visiting "Maritsa East Mines" on Friday, including the Maritsa East 2 TPP, I saw the huge quantities of clays and other types of earth masses, seized at a depth of 70 meters, before we reached the coal layers. There is no way that there are no other underground resources in these layers," said Minister Stankov.

"Rare earth elements will give Europe, Bulgaria a chance not to become solely a consumer, but, so to speak, a donor of rare earth elements," the minister added. In his words, this will support development activities and production processes, including maintaining competitiveness, and the economy as a whole. At the same time, the Minister was categorical that any action to explore rare earth elements will have to comply with environmental legislation.

Within the framework of the forum, Minister Stankov declared his support for the Director of the Geological Institute, Prof. Svetoslav Georgiev, for the restoration of the national geological fund. The Minister reminded that everything possible is being done for Bulgaria to become part of the exploration and exploration of oil and gas in the deep Black Sea, for which negotiations are already underway with the relevant companies. If an agreement is reached, he also committed to implementing the idea of ​​initially creating a directorate at BEH, and subsequently a company, which would be able to fulfill the desire to unite science and business and build the necessary capacity.

"I invited Bulgarian and foreign investors to further explore the Bulgarian territory so that we know that we have done everything possible and so that we know what is under our feet. Undoubtedly, this must also be in accordance with environmental legislation so that the public can know that we are doing everything in an acceptable manner," he said, specifying that this is also important for the largest directorate in the Ministry of Energy.

Earlier, within the framework of the forum, the head of the investment department at Mini Maritsa East, Leonid Ganozliev, presented the results of a study conducted years ago, which established the presence of elements such as neodymium, cerium, lanthanum and yttrium. According to him, however, the presence of these elements was found in single geological samples. Their economic potential was not the focus of the study at that time, which was mainly aimed at coal mining.

Ganozliev explained that during a study by the Geological Institute of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, conducted in 2011 and 2013 and funded by the Ministry of Education and Science, lanthanides and rare earth elements have been studied. The concentration of lanthanides and rare earth elements is visible in the different clays, relative to the Clark level for sedimentary rocks. The highest concentration is of yttrium, lanthanum, cerium and of course scandium," he said.

According to him, the black and yellow clays of the complex are characterized by significantly higher concentrations of rare earth elements such as yttrium and scandium by nearly 2 to 3 times. The black and yellow clays are also characterized by the highest content of scandium, which "makes them of interest as a potential source for the extraction of these elements." In this regard, the head of the Maritsa East Mine explained that many countries are already reassessing already closed deposits, as well as waste products from mining. During Leonid Ganozliev's presentation, it became clear that in addition to the clays of the complex, in the horizontal section, as well as in the water, a number of other elements have also been found in the water, such as tellurium in higher concentrations, rhenium, beryllium, silver, palladium, molybdenum, tungsten, copper, zinc, etc.

At the moment, we have focused on mining (of coal) and have not focused on the studies. This study is from 2013, but it hides economic prospects for the region, said Ganozliev.

Professor Svetoslav Georgiev, Director of the Geological Institute at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, for his part, began with the importance of geology in development. In this regard, he drew attention to the relationship between geology and the energy transition and in particular the participation of renewable energy sources (RES), which require a lot of resources.

Let's see what is the connection between geology, which is of key importance for the supply of materials, and renewable energy. First of all, the connection is not obvious. The production of renewable energy requires a lot of resources. The critical minerals that are used to produce a unit of energy require 10 times more minerals than conventional ones. According to the presentation presented by Prof. Georgiev, for example, an electric car requires 8 times more minerals than conventional ones. We also have information about wind turbines and the amount of rare minerals they require, namely - 3000 kg. These are materials that must be extracted, first to get to the deposit, to extract the raw material. Moreover, according to him, these rare earth elements are a very small part and they are very difficult to extract from the total mass. "If we imagine the cumulative effect of renewable energy sources, if we look globally, these are incredible amounts of resources, as well as conventional energy, through which to extract and transport them," said Prof. Georgiev. He drew attention to the fact that in Bulgaria the knowledge about the presence of various minerals is fragmented, and in our country geological surveys have not been conducted in the last 30 years, and he also named the reasons for this. This fragmented knowledge suggests the presence of critical raw materials. At the same time, he presented a program on which the Geological Institute is working, but it is mainly of scientific, not of applied value. However, the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences has modern technologies and capabilities for research, as well as for the analysis of all 49 critical elements.