The mining project in Norra Karr is located in Jonkoping municipality and started with prospecting in 2009. Tasman Metals Ltd (a subsidiary of a Canadian firm) was originally responsible for the project but they merged with another mining company and is now called Leading Edge Metals. They have found rare earth minerals and zirconium in Norra Karr and claim that the deposit is the fourth largest in the world. Leading Edge Minerals also claim the deposit will be important for the whole world and the minerals will mostly be used for green technology. Compared to mining in other parts of the world, the company states that it would be better to mine the minerals in Sweden considering that the regulation is stricter there than in most other countries. Since 2009 they were granted a concession, which gave them permission to continue exploring the ground for minerals. However, the concession permission was appealed to multiple instances including the government, but the appeal was rejected. The Swedish government has a set target to be Europe's leading mining country. Finally, the Supreme Administrative Court overturned the concession permission due to the fact that Leading Edge Materials had not described the potential environmental impact of facilities such as tailing dams on the surrounding environment. Norra Karr is located near a "Natura 2000" area which is protected by EU law. The proposed mine is also located close by and uphill of Vattern, a lake which provide 250 000 people in Sweden with fresh water. A lot of environmental groups including Save the Baltic have been concerned by the impact the mine might have on Vattern. One of their concerns is that sulphuric acid is used to separate the rare earth minerals from other minerals. The waste minerals are then stored in tailing ponds. Environmental groups are concerned that both acids and minerals will leak into the surrounding environment and specifically into Vattern, which could spoil the drinking water for hundreds of thousands of people. Environmental groups are also concerned about the consequences this will have on the surrounding environment, and how this will affect plants and animals in the area. These groups also stress that the company only deposit a small bond as security against damages, this is way to small for the actual damage that could occur. The bond accounts for 50,000 SEK (5,500 USD), comparing to similar companies that have spent up to 200,000,000 SEK (22,000,000 USD) on damages. The environmental groups stress that the company have reserved an insufficient amount of money to pay for the environmental degradation.

Leading Edge Materials plan to extract 1,2 million mineral ore/year