A year full of action for the mining and mineral industry

When we on Monday morning (8th December) receive the notification on that Northland Resources has been forced to apply for bankruptcy, our thoughts go not only to the company itself but above all to the employees and the whole community in Pajala.

The commitment and the confidence in the future which Northland created have been fantastic. They then fall on the finishing line as the iron ore price has plummeted. This is partly due to a decline in demand, but primarily because of a global oversupply of ore. This has made life very tough for the start-ups on the iron ore side.

There are also lots of joys and many fine achievements. Several years of investments are now paying off; one example is the Boliden Garpenberg investment which seems very well timed with a zinc price on the way up and another the LKAB Svappavaara operations enabling higher volumes of climate-smart “green pellets”.

It is a favour to be working in an industry where the companies are awarded for their sustaining and annual reports, both nationally and internationally, and where the companies are among the highest ranked employers in Sweden. Those are areas showing that there really is a thinking-ahead.
Sadly, we don’t see any positive changes of the permit processes. We still have a complicated and lengthy handling, where more and more issues are involved late in the process. SveMin pursues the matter on improved conditions.

Despite this notification, I wish nice and relaxing holidays to all of you!
With best regards,

Per Ahl, CEO SveMin