Ebba Busch’s response:
Tobias Andersson has asked me if I and the government intend to work to re-authorize uranium mining in Sweden.
On 1 August 2018, a new provision was introduced in the Environmental Code which means that it is not possible to mine, process or physically or chemically enrich uranium-containing material during mining operations or by recycling extraction waste if the purpose is to extract the radionuclides or use the material's radioactivity (prop. 2017/ 18:212). The ban also applies to test mining. In the Minerals Act (1991:45), uranium was removed as a concession mineral, which means that it is not possible to grant either an exploration permit or a processing concession for uranium. At the time, these were not judged to be economically profitable to mine.
Uranium is often associated with other metals, e.g. iron, copper and gold. The radiation properties in the bedrock are used in connection with exploration and mapping of other metals and minerals. It can be expressed as uranium showing the way to other deposits. It may be that the demand for so-called innovation-critical metals and minerals will increase in the future, e.g. because these metals are necessary to develop new environmental technologies. The government stated in prop. 2017/18:212 that it intends to follow the development of this issue in relation to the implemented legislative changes and, if necessary, consider business policy measures. A more extensive evaluation of the now proposed changes in relation to the extraction of innovation-critical metals and minerals must be carried out no later than five years after the changes to the law have been decided.
(20min delay)