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The application that Boliden has submitted is a so-called processing concession. It means that the right to the minerals is transferred from the state to the company if a mine can be started after further exploration and investigations.

According to the decision that came in December, Boliden must apply for a so-called Natura 2000 permit before a processing concession can be granted. But this is something that could just as easily have been done later in the process before the environmental conditions are determined, according to Klas Nilsson, communications director at Boliden.

Boliden has already made an environmental impact statement that is included in the application for a processing concession. The next step for the company is to study the deposit in more detail in order to be able to design a business and then apply for a permit for it, he explains.

- Instead, the government requests that we apply for a permit for something that we do not really know what it should look like, which will be reversed. It would have been much better to collect the Natura2000 permit with the environmental assessment.

Boliden is now appealing the government's decision to the Supreme Administrative Court to get an examination of whether the government complied with the law when it said no to the company's mining plans in Älvsbyn municipality.

Great importance for climate change

The fact that Lavergruvan is a copper deposit makes it even more important to open it because copper is a metal that is of great importance for climate change. All electricity is led with copper, everything from cars to wind turbines and industries that run on electricity, and since Europe today is heavily undersupplied with copper, the market is huge, Klas Nilsson points out.

- 80 percent of all copper is imported, mainly from South America. But once we find copper in Sweden that could improve the internal copper supply, the government struggles instead.

So far, Boliden has invested just over one hundred million in the Laver mine. If the company ultimately decides on a mine, it means an investment of well over ten billion in Älvsbyn.

- But if we do not even have the right to the minerals, it creates great uncertainty and this is something that investments of this size rarely feel good about. All Natura 2000 investigations must, of course, be carried out, but without any security, it is challenging for us to move forward.

"If it stops in Sweden, we can not sit with our arms crossed and hope that it will be resolved. Then we have to look in other countries "

Unpredictable and lengthy permit processes hinder the development of the mining industry, according to Klas Nilsson. In other countries, the requirements for what must be met in order to obtain a permit are clearer.

- In Sweden, new questions are constantly emerging and new demands are introduced from different quarters gradually. In the end, they can not be fulfilled. It will be an anthill of different government requirements that are not weighed against each other. The system short-circuits itself when no one takes responsibility for the whole.

The consequence is that Boliden is no stranger to expanding in other countries where the system works better.

- The mining industry is based on investments of huge amounts in existing or new operations to find and extract minerals. If it stops in Sweden, we can not sit with our arms crossed and hope that it will work out. Then we have to look in other countries, says Klas Nilsson.

Others have already left Sweden

But Boliden is far from the only example of when regulatory hassles and protracted government processes put the brakes on the expansion in the north. Before Christmas, it was also clear that Boden had lost a large establishment due to the county administrative board's ambiguity regarding the schedule for the permit processes.

This applied to the company Critical Metals, which via its Swedish subsidiary Risab wanted to build a process plant to extract the metal vanadium from residual products from steel production, reports NSD, Norrländska Socialdemokraten.

But the company chose Boden and now establishes itself in Finnish Pori instead.

The main factors behind the decision are stated to be that the facility can be located by a railway and port, but also that the company did not receive a clear timetable for the work with the permit processes in Norrbotten.

In Finland, on the other hand, the company was given a very clear timetable, according to Claes Nordmark, chairman of Norrbotten's municipalities.

- Time is a decisive factor. Without clear information, it will be a factor of uncertainty, he tells NSD.

- With a clear schedule, the jobs could have ended up here instead.

The newspaper Näringslivet is looking for Minister of Trade and Industry Ibrahim Baylan for a comment.

https://www.tn.se/ekonomi/regeringen-stoppar-klimatprojekt-nu-kan-boliden-overge-sverige/