It is important to understand that the municipality has the local planning monopoly.
The environmental permit for the mine is in.
The mining permit from the national mining authority will follow.
What is still on stake is the construction permit.
If the local council decides against having a mine in their municipality, even though it poses no risk for the environment and doesn’t interfere substantially with reindeer husbandry as per final court decision, they can block it. The local council, which is in Kiruna, might say:
„We decide what we want to have constructed here, and we don’t care that the mine has been judged environmentally okay, we still don’t want it here.“
So the local council can refuse a construction permit (or refuse to do the local planning necssary to allow the building permit).
How likely is this?
The municipal council is split in pro-mining and anti-mining factions. Recently it looked like the anti-mining faction got a majority but that may also change in favour of Talga. 50-50 chances. It is explained in detail on another forum, but also by Gvan in post Post #:
67447118What if the municipality indeed refuses to give green light?
Then the government can overrule the municipality and order it to allow construction. As Swedish law professor Maria Pettersson explained, because the deposit has national interest status, this is one of the rare cases where the national government can overrule the municipality in local matters.
The article is here:
https://www.svt.se/nyheter/sapmi/professor-kan-vara-svart-att-stoppa-gruvan
and the translation is here:
https://www.tellerreport.com/amp/2023-04-17-professor--%22can-be-difficult-to-stop-the-mine%22.H1QFvr9qMn.html
How likely is it that the government will step in?
The government is pro-mining, they hosted a EU meeting in Kiruna this year in January, where seven local companies where invited, including Talga…
And the mine is relatively small scale. In the words of Per Erik Lindvall: „Sweden's entire mining industry covers roughly between 20,000 and 25,000 hectares. The mine we are planning for takes up a total of 150 hectares. This is an essential detail when it comes to interventions in nature and the impact on pastures for reindeer.
To put that into perspective, that will be about two truckloads of the mine a day.“
The government‘s arguments will be just overwhelming.
I mean what reasonable person can object to a mere 2 trucks a day?
(20min delay)