Electric vehicles (EV) need it for their batteries. Solar panels need it, and so do computer chips. As the world develops new/green technologies, phosphorus is needed in greater amounts and for more applications.
It's important for man-made fertilizer, which enables high agricultural productivity, which is one reason why fewer people on earth today go hungry compared to the rest of human history. China is the biggest consumer of phosphate fertilizer in the world, followed by India in second place. China also is the biggest producer of phosphate fertilizer, making nearly 4x as much as is made in second-place U.S. (2018 statistics).
Europe has been nervous about its supply of phosphorus since it's almost entirely dependent on imports, and the countries exporting it are not great friends of the EU: Russia, China, Iraq, and Syria. Politics could easily threaten their supply chain.
So, a recently discovered huge new deposit of phosphorus rock may give the EU some peace of mind about supply . . because it's located right in Europe--in Norway.
from Independent
(cont'd tomorrow)
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