| Location | |
|---|---|
  Kallak Iron Deposit | |
| Location | Jokkmokk |
| Municipality | Lapland |
| Country | Sweden |
| Coordinates | 66°47′N19°7′E / 66.783°N 19.117°E |
| Production | |
| Products | Iron ore |
| Owner | |
| Company | Beowulf Mining |
The proposed Kallak mine is a controversial plan to exploit one of the largest unexploited iron ore deposits in Sweden.
The mining of iron ore in Sweden is a huge industry and is centred mainly in northern Sweden. The country holds 60% of Europe's identified iron ore deposits and is as of 2021 [update] responsible for 90% of Europe's iron ore extraction [1] and 5% of the world's reserves in 2014. [2] [3] [4]
More than 96% of total ore production comes from the mines in the northern region, known as Norrland. Comprising 10 of the 12 active mines in the country, these mines lie in Sápmi (historically "Lapland"), the traditional territory of the Sámi, the only Indigenous people in Scandinavia. [1]
The proposed site of a new mine known as Kallak (the Swedish form of Gállak, the original name of the place in the Lule Saami language, derived from the sámi family name Gállak which is a lineage of sámis that gave name to many places in Sarek such as Gállakjávrre and Gállakvárre. The name has later been wrongfully distorted into Gállok) is located on an island in the hydropower-regulated Little Lule River between the (non-Sami) villages of Björkholmen and Randijaur in the municipality of Jokkmokk in the province of Norrbotten in northern Sweden. It is located near the hydropower plant Parki, and the regulation reservoirs Parkijaure and Randijaure. Björkholmen and Randijaur have around 100 inhabitants, constituting the permanent residents of Gállok/Kallak. [1]
The site is on the ancestral lands of the indigenous Sami people and forms part of the reindeer winter grazing lands of the Sami community of Jåhkågasska tjiellde. [5] The community consists of approximately one hundred members, of which around half work directly with reindeer herding. While this is the community primarily affected by the mining proposal, two other neighbouring Sámi communities would also be indirectly affected. [1]
The Kallak north and Kallak south prospects were identified by the Geological Survey of Sweden in the 1940s. In the late 1960s the SGU identified Kallak north as containing 92 million tonnes of ore and Kallak south as containing 29 million tonnes of ore at a grade of roughly 35%.
Beowulf Mining acquired the Kallak north licence in 2006, and a drill program conducted in 2010 has found at least 175 Mt of Iron at an average grade of 30%. [6] Beowulf acquired the Kallak south licence from Tasman Metals in mid-2010. [7] An ongoing drill program has shown Kallak south to contain at least 400 million tonnes of Iron at an average grade of 30%. [8]
The combined Kallak deposit contains at least 600 million tonnes of Iron and it is believed that the north and south deposits are connected at depth to give a single iron deposit with a strike length of over 4 km (2.5 mi).[ citation needed ]
In mid-2010 an independent conceptual study performed by the Raw Materials Group showed that the Kallak north deposit, which at the time was thought to contain 150 million tonnes of iron at 30% grading, was commercially viable. [9]
In 2011 the Swedish companys Beowulf Mining Sweden AB and Jokkmokk Iron Mines AB have been registered [10] [11] . All companies are connected to Beowulf Mining plc. [12] Jokkmokk Iron Mines AB is a wholly owned subsidiary of Beowulf Mining plc. [13]
In March 2022 Swedish journalists revealed that Beowulf Mining is linked to tax savings in British Virgin Islands [14] and is unlikely to provide the promised 1 billion SEK extra tax revenue in 25 years to Jokmokk municipality. [15]
In September 2023 the exit of three key people of Beowulf Mining and a strategic review of this main project has been reported. [16] An Affärsvärlden analyst explains the owners of Beowulf Mining and the lacks of funding the expected 5 billion SEK. [17]
In September 2024 the company Jokkmokk Iron Mines AB published a consultation paper describing the planned operations and its main environmental impacts of the planned mining. [18] An English version has been published on the Beowulf Mining website. [19] This consultation paper gives the company's view and mentions a number of potential impacts of the proposed mining project. These include impacts on the landscape, noise, vibrations, air quality, groundwater, surface water, reindeer husbandry, natural environment, cultural environment, conservation of natural resources, communications, outdoor recreation, hunting and fishing, powerlines, total defence, hydropower, and the World Heritage Site Laponia.
According to the local visitors of the public consultation held by the company on 15th October 2024 in Jokkmokk [20] there were general but no specific information on the project. [21] [22] According to the company the application for the environmental permit is planned for spring 2025.
The plans to establish a mine at the site have met resistance from the indigenous Sámi people as well as other local inhabitants and have also raised concerns in regard to dam safety, within the hydro power regulated Lule River. [23] On 1 July 2013, protesters set up a road blockade in order to prevent test drilling. On 30 July, the blockade was dismantled by the police, but on the next day the blockade was set up again. [24]
Dam safety research points at the problems of combining hydro power with tailing dams, within the same system. In Sweden this would be the first time such a combination is made, and thereby this would be a full-scale experiment with major risks for people and drinking water provision downstream, amongst other the cities of Boden and Luleå. [25]
In 2014, Norrbotten County said no to further mining in Kallak; [26] the case would be closed if the Swedish governmental geology decision-making body Bergsstaten had agreed with Norrbotten County. However, Bergsstaten overruled the county and it was up to the government of Sweden to give a final answer to the question. [27] [28]
In summer 2019 over 1000 people got together in a Rainbow Gathering tent camp in Kallak in solidarity with the Sámi people. [29] [30]
In February 2020, the Swedish Government finally refused their application. However Beowulf has continued to express an interest in mining at Kallak. [31] In December 2021, the new Prime Minister of Sweden, Magdalena Andersson, said that Sweden needed more mines, and shares rose in Beowulf after this announcement. [32] With Swedish Green Party, which opposed the project, no longer in the governing coalition, the issue of allowance for the mining project reopened. [33] In February 2022 advisors of the U.N. Human Rights Council [34] and local Saami population protested against it together with Greta Thunberg. [35] On February 2, 2022, the Sámi Parliament of Sweden submitted its opinion concerning a new mine in Kallak to the Ministry of Enterprise and Innovation (Sweden). [36]
Despite the protests, on March 22, 2022, the Swedish Ministry of Enterprise, Energy and Communications, under a set of environmental protection-related conditions, gave a permission to Beowulf to proceed with the mining project. [37] Before the mine is established, the project needs to be approved by the Swedish environmental court. [38]
In September 2022 The Greta Thunberg Foundation donated SEK 2,000,000 (~ EUR 184,000) to the indigenous Jåhkåganska Sámi community in Jokkmokk municipality to support the Sámi communities legal fight against the Swedish government's decision to allow an iron mine in Gállok/Kallak. [39]
The UNESCO World Heritage Committee has examined a report of the Swedish National Heritage Board and requests the authority to provide an updated report on the state of conservation of the World Heritage Laponia and the implementation of recommendations by 1st February 2025. [40]
Norrbotten County is the northernmost county or län of Sweden. It is also the largest county by land area, almost a quarter of Sweden's total area. It shares borders with Västerbotten County to the southwest, the Gulf of Bothnia to the southeast, the counties of Nordland and Troms in Norway to the northwest, and Lapland Province in Finland to the northeast.
Jokkmokk Municipality is a municipality in Norrbotten County in northern Sweden. Its seat is located in Jokkmokk.
Kiruna is the northernmost city in Sweden, situated in the province of Lapland. It had 17,002 inhabitants in 2016 and is the seat of Kiruna Municipality in Norrbotten County. The city was originally built in the 1890s to serve the Kiruna Mine.
Jokkmokk is a locality and the seat of Jokkmokk Municipality in Norrbotten County, province of Lapland, Sweden, with 2,786 inhabitants in 2010. The Lule Sami name of the place means "River's Curve," due to the meandering river that runs through it. As in other towns in Lapland, the Swedish language is dominant at an official level in Jokkmokk in modern times. The settlement is just north of the Arctic Circle. Talvatissjön is located at the southern part of Jokkmokk.
Gällivare is a locality and the seat of Gällivare Municipality in Norrbotten County, province of Lapland, Sweden with 8,449 inhabitants in 2010. The town was founded in the 17th century. Together with nearby towns Malmberget and Koskullskulle it forms a conurbation with some 15,000 inhabitants. This conurbation is the second northernmost significant urban area of Sweden after Kiruna.
Malmberget is a locality and mining town situated in Gällivare Municipality, Norrbotten County, Sweden. It had 5,590 inhabitants in 2010, reduced to 927 by December 2020. It is situated 5 kilometres from the municipal seat of Gällivare.
Luossavaara-Kiirunavaara Aktiebolag (LKAB) is a state-owned Swedish mining company. The company mines iron ore at Kiruna and at Malmberget in northern Sweden. The company was established in 1890, and has been 100% state-owned since the 1950s. The iron ore is processed to pellets and sinter fines, which are transported by Iore trains (Malmbanan) to the harbours at Narvik and Luleå and to the steel mill at Luleå (SSAB). Their production is sold throughout much of the world, with the principal markets being European steel mills, as well as North Africa, the Middle East and Southeast Asia. LKAB's mines supply at least 80% of Europe's iron ore.
Lapland, also known by its Swedish name Lappland, is a province in northernmost Sweden. It borders the Swedish provinces of Jämtland, Ångermanland, Västerbotten, and Norrbotten, as well as Norway and Finland. Nearly a quarter of Sweden's land area is in Lappland.
Kiirunavaara is a mountain situated in Kiruna Municipality in Norrbotten County, Sweden. It contains one of the largest and richest bodies of iron ore in the world.
Kvikkjokk is a small village situated in Jokkmokk Municipality, Norrbotten County, Sweden. It is located 120 km northwest of Jokkmokk. Several hiking trails start in Kvikkjokk. Kungsleden passes through the village and it is a popular starting point for hikers going into Sarek National Park.
The Kiruna mine is the largest and most modern underground iron ore mine in the world. The mine is located in Kiruna in Norrbotten County, Lapland, Sweden. The mine is owned by Luossavaara-Kiirunavaara AB (LKAB), a large Swedish mining company. In 2018 the mine produced 26.9 million tonnes of iron ore. The Kiruna mine has an ore body which is 4 km (2.5 mi) long, 80 metres (260 ft) to 120 metres (390 ft) thick and reaching a depth of up to 2 km (1.2 mi). Since mining began at the site in 1898, the mine has produced over 950 million tonnes of ore. As of 2020, the main haulage level is 1,365 m below the ore outcrop at Kiirunavaara that existed prior to mining.
The Ruoutevare Iron Deposit is one of the largest known unexploited iron ore deposits in Sweden. Located in Kvikkjokk in Norrbotten County, Lapland, the deposit was discovered in the early 1970s by the Geological Survey of Sweden and found to have between 116 and 123 million tonnes of iron ore. In 2008 Beowulf Mining announced a maiden JORC compliant resource estimate for Ruoutevare with an inferred mineral resource estimate of 140 million tonnes of iron ore at a grade of 39.1%, with 5.7% titanium and 0.2% Vanadium.
The Malmberget mine is one of the largest iron ore mines in the world. The mine is located in Malmberget in Norrbotten County, Lapland, it is owned by Luossavaara-Kiirunavaara AB (LKAB). The mine has an annual production capacity of over 5 million tonnes of iron ore and has reserves amounting to 350 million tonnes of ore grading 43.8% iron, resulting 153.3 million tonnes of iron. In 2009, the mine produced 4.3 million tonnes of iron.
The Ballek Copper/Gold deposit contains 43,000 tonnes of Copper and 52,000 ounces of gold and is owned by Wayland Copper Limited, a joint venture between Energy Ventures Limited (EVE) and Beowulf Mining. The equity in Wayland is split evenly between the two partners, with Beowulf acting as operator. Currently five licences make up the Ballek project, which covers an area of roughly 110 km2 in Norrbotten County, Sweden.
Karl-Petter "Kålle" Thorwaldsson is a Swedish union leader and politician who has served as Minister for Business, Industry and Innovation since November 2021. He was previously president of the Swedish Trade Union Confederation from 2012 to 2020.
Beowulf Mining plc is a UK registered Nordic focused exploration and development company listed on the AIM in London and Spotlight in Sweden. The CEO is Kurt Budge. The company was formed in 1988 as Beowulf Gold. Through subsidiaries Jokkmokk Iron Mines AB and Fennoscandian Resources, it is active in developing open-pit mining in Sweden and Finland respectively; its plans to mine for magnetite iron ore at Kallak, west of Jokkmokk in northern Sweden, and for graphite in Heinävesi, Finland, are controversial.
The forest Sámi are Sámi people who lived in the woods and who, unlike the reindeer-herding Sámi people, did not move up into the fells during the summer season. Historically, there have been forest Sámi in Sweden in the area ranging from northern Ångermanland to the far north. In the early 1600s the term granlapp was also used to refer to the Sámi people who paid taxes only to Sweden, compared to the semi-nomadic fell Sámi, who, since they worked in the fells that straddled the Swedish-Norwegian border, had to pay taxes to both countries. When Ernst Manker studied the life of the forest Sámi in the early 20th century, nearly all of their habitations had been abandoned. Only one forest Sámi village remained, in Malå in Västerbotten, an area known as Stenundslandet in Anundsjö. There is a modern-day group who consider themselves forest Sámi in Finland, but they are not part of the Sámi parliament, for example.
The mining industry in Sweden has a history dating back 6,000 years.
José Francisco Calí Tzay is a Guatemalan attorney and diplomat, and the UN Human Rights Council Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples since 2020.
Tasman Metals, "a Canadian company for jurisdictional and thereby regulatory purposes," is a Vancouver-based mining company that operated in Sweden. From 2009 to 2016 Tasman Metals owned the mining rights to, and explored for, rare earth elements in the Norra Kärr area in the South Swedish highlands. In February 2016 the supreme administrative court of Sweden withdrew Tasman's exploitation concession for Norra Kärr.
Text has been copied from this source, which is available under a Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) Archived 16 October 2020 at the Wayback Machine licence.Mineral resources in Sweden | ||
|---|---|---|
| Iron |  | |
| Copper | ||
| Molybdenum | ||
| Zinc | ||