Questions from the AGM18 Jun 2021 14:04
Question 2
People from the World Heritage Committee in Paris seem to understand how a mine in
Kallak is potentially catastrophic for the local reindeer herders and thus also a threat to the
Outstanding Universal Values constituting the World Heritage Site Laponia. Why is it so hard
for you to understand the values threatened by your exploration work in the municipality of
Jokkmokk?
It is for the Swedish Government to decide on the Kallak Iron Ore Project, which will bring
billions of SEK investment and hundreds of jobs to Jokkmokk, benefitting all interest groups in
the community, including reindeer herders.
Jokkmokks Kommun has since long struggled with population decline and an associated
eroding tax base. It has been forced to cut its budget by SEK 28 million over the last two
years, reducing public services and infrastructure which it can no longer afford to provide for
the benefit of the community. The municipality is in dire need of stemming its decline, and of
securing a financial basis for its future.
UNESCO does not use the word ‘catastrophic’ in its comments and recommendations and
does not conclude that Kallak cannot be mined.
The Company maintains it is inappropriate for UNESCO to write about an area and issues
that we would strongly argue falls outside of its jurisdiction.
There are 12 operating mines in Sweden, to which approximately 197km2 or 0.04 per cent of
Sweden’s land area is designated (the actual land used is considerably less). Reindeer herders
have ‘usufruct’ (right of use) over approximately 50 per cent of Sweden. No new mining
development has been permitted in more than a decade, yet the metal needed for a
transition to a Green Economy has to come from primary raw material sources, mines, for
the foreseeable future.
Kallak represents about 0.5 per cent of Jåhkågaska's available pasture lands, and
Jåhkågaska's 4,500 reindeer make up less than ten per cent of the total number of reindeer
that are present in Laponia over some part of the year. It is an established fact that there are
solutions for how to manage the competing land requirements of mining operations (and
other industrial activities) and reindeer herding.
With regards to migration, for example, reindeer can be moved around an obstacle, such as a
mine, using specific fenced corridors, Eco ducts or even trucks. A highly relevant practical
case can be found in LKAB-Kiruna-Abisko National Park area. Abisko is like Laponia, a
protected area which is used by reindeer herders. The reindeer herders at Abisko are
maintaining their traditional activities, whilst sharing their winter pasture with the industrial
activities present around Kiruna and Svappavaara.
There is no example in Sweden of a reindeer herding coop becoming unsustainable because
of mining, while there are many examples of reindeer herding and mining coexisting;
commercial agreements are made, parties benefit, as do wider stakeholder groups from the
ensuing economic
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