Well-attended conferences and seminars during the year

Svemin’s Health and Safety seminar on February 13 attracted a record audience of about 400 participants. The theme was collaboration and commitment in the Health and Safety work. It was a day of discussions about research, good examples and practical tips. During the day, Svemin’s Health and Safety Award was also awarded to a group within Boliden Aitik who showed great initiative, commitment and innovative thinking to develop tools in the preventive Health and Safety work. The 2020 seminar will take place on February 12th and has the theme of preventive work with machines and plants.

At the beginning of the year, a crowded seminar was held together with Women In Mining – Sweden, in connection with the Hindersmässan in Örebro. The theme was Equality pays off. Svemin also arranged a Climate Breakfast in the Parliament; together with the Parliament’s mining and steel network, Svemin invited to the seminar on the Climate Roadmap (within the Fossil-free Sweden framework) as a contribution to the Government’s Climate Action Plan.

The launch of a Sustainable Mining Industry, a collaboration project between Svemin and SEI, the Stockholm Environment Institute on May 28 attracted a great deal of interest.

This summer’s Almedalen week meant many rewarding meetings, and the popular ”Almedalen’s Hardest Mingle” which Svemin arranges together with Jernkontoret and Industriarbetsgivarna, was voted Almedalen’s best mingle. And we couldn’t agree more!

This year’s Environmental conference was held in Skellefteå on October 2-3. The conference on the theme ”Mining waste – Resource and challenge for a sustainable future” attracted a record audience, about 180 participants. The conference had real-time interpreters which, together with inviting colleagues from Finland and the rest of Europe, brought added flavor, although the number of participants from the rest of the EU this time was limited.

Svemin’s Autumn meeting took place at Nalen, Stockholm, attracting about 210 participants. The theme was the Mineralbidraget – creating a climate-smart world. The Swedish Minister of Enterprise, Ibrahim Baylan was keynote speaker. During the day, SIP STRIM’s Swedish Mining Innovation Award was also awarded to Mobilaris, who won the prize for their invention Mobilaris Onboard.

#mineralbidraget and COP25 – Svemin did not go unnoticed during 2019

At the beginning of the year, the #mineralbidraget campaign in social media was also launched with the aim to spread knowledge about the industry’s strategic sustainability projects.

During the autumn, a trip was conducted together with the Parliament’s mining and steel network to Gällivare, Malmberget and Luleå, with the purpose to present and explain the industries’ value chain.

2019 was rounded off with Svemin-participation at the UN Climate Summit COP25 in Madrid. The Swedish fossil-free steel initiative, HYBRIT, was highlighted on the EU stage and Svemin’s Emma Härdmark moderated Swedish Climate Minister Isabella Lövin and the Director General of DG Clima Mauro Petriccione. Svemin’s CEO, Maria Sunér Fleming, participated in a seminar about SUM- Sustainable Underground Mining.

Successful pilot study on traceability provided the opportunity for pilot project

During the spring of 2019, the pilot study on traceability, which was conducted during 2018/19 was completed and reported, and in November, the SIP STRIM* Board granted funding for a continuation in the form of a pilot project.

*Strategic innovation programme for the Swedish mining and metal producing industry

In the project, named TraceMet – Traceability for Sustainable Metals and Minerals, we will build a simplified, but fully functional, IT system to follow certified metals from mine to end use. We will use the criteria ”carbon dioxide imprint” and ”percentage of recycled” and include one value chain for copper; from mine to use in high voltage lines, and one for steel; from mine to steel in trucks. The project is owned by Svemin and is run in collaboration with IVL and RISE. Participating companies are Boliden, LKAB, Elektrokoppar, SSAB, Scania, Volvo and ABB.

The new version of the national strategic research and innovation agenda Strategic Research and Innovation Roadmap for the Swedish Mining and Metal Producing Industry was launched on the Bergforsk and STRIM days May 15-16. The agenda is updated every three years.

During the year, Svemin has also worked on the proposals for the R&D bill and in October Svemin submitted two submissions to the Government Offices. One submission was made together with LTU and one with the Industry Council’s R&D group.

In October, this year’s Top Management Meeting for R&D was conducted with the theme of the Mining Industry of the Future – ways to get us there.
Leading representatives from the industry and academia held a dialogue with Minister of Business Ibrahim Baylan. In November, Svemin took part in a roundtable discussion on the topic responsible sourcing. The meeting was chaired by Swedish Minister of Enterprise, Ibrahim Baylan and Finnish Minister of Enterprise Katri Kulmuni.

Dam safety – prioritized during 2019

Intensive international work was carried out during the year in the aftermath of the catastrophic tailings dam disaster in Brazil in January. At the end of the year, a draft for a standard for mining dams was presented, which is developed by the Global tailings review. Svemin follows the work through our own contacts and through Euromines. The same applies to the work on an international guideline conducted by ICMM. At home, work is underway on a revision of the industry’s dam safety guidelines, GruvRIDAS, where Svemin have had to weigh in the international initiatives that are simultaneously taking place.

Recognized Professional Organization – Important milestone for FAMMP

At the beginning of the year, the Fennoscandian Association for Metals and Minerals Professionals (FAMMP) was approved as a Recognized Professional Organization by the Pan European Reserves and Resources Reporting Committee (PERC), the organization that provides a common European standard for accounting for exploration results, mineral resources and mineral reserves. This is an important milestone for FAMMP members and a signature for Svemin’s member companies that apply the PERC standard. FAMMP is a nonprofit association for persons active in the mining and minerals industry with the competence and experience of being able to act as a Competent Person for public reporting of exploration results, mineral assets and mineral reserves.

Water framework directive under the magnifying glass and expanded exploration network

Throughout the year, active work has been carried out of the review of the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD). The work has been run through the Swedish Water Alliance, an alliance where Swedish industry organizations both inside and outside of the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise are included together with LRF, Swedish Water and Sweden’s Municipalities and Regions. The Alliance has jointly pushed positions that are shared regarding the view of the water framework directive. In mid-December, the European Commission announced that it considered the Water Framework Directive in general to function well and that it did not intend to open the Directive to any change. However, Svemin does not share the Commission’s view, hence, the work continues to bring about an amendment to the directive.

In November, a meeting was held for exploration companies in Sweden, where both Svemin’s member companies and other companies were invited. The purpose was to make contacts and to share experiences and knowledge about exploration in Sweden. The meeting was held in English and some twenty companies and even more participants joined. The meeting was successful, with rewarding discussions and exchanges of both experiences and opinions.

New guidelines within Health and Safety

Guidance for individual Health and Safety registries

In certain areas of the health and safety legislation in Sweden, requirements are laid down for registers of employees, for example when exposure to carcinogens. The work group Medicin och Teknik have developed a guide for individual Health and Safety registries. The guidance can be found on Svemin’s website.

New version of vehicle instructions

A new version of Svemin’s instructions for vehicles, machines and technical equipment has been developed and will be available shortly on Svemin’s website.

Euromines Health & Safety Seminar – Safety First: Industry 4.0

In the mining and minerals industry, major technological developments are underway such as electrification and automation of machines and processes. Technological development contributes to safer workplaces, but new technology can also pose new risks. At Euromines annual conference, the technical developments from a Health and Safety perspective were discussed. The seminar was attended by representatives from various companies, the European Commission, government representatives and trade union representatives from Europe’s member countries.

International cooperation for GRAMKO

During the year, the mining and minerals industry’s Health and Safety committee, GRAMKO, had increased international cooperation. In May, GRAMKO visited Brussels and met with representatives of the European Commission, the European Parliament and Euromines. In December, representatives from GRAMKO went to Helsinki to meet the Finnish Health and Safety Committee for the mining and minerals industry, KTN.

Roadmap for Skill Supply and #250yrken

The campaign #250yrken in social media were launched to arouse interest in education that leads to jobs in the mining industry.

During 2019, work within Skill Supply has focused on the development and launch of the Roadmap for Skill Supply. The development of the roadmap has been done in collaboration with Jernkontoret and Industriarbetsgivarna. The roadmap has been presented and discussed in Almedalen and during a series of seminars and conferences during the autumn. Examples of further activity are the student meeting that Svemin arranges for civil engineering students, where the companies have been able to meet students in a close and relaxed way.

The Green Deal – focus for the EU in the coming years

There is a lot going on in the climate and energy area and 2019 was no exception. The new EU Commission acceded and launched The Green Deal package, which shows the Commission’s focus and areas of focus over the next few years. Svemin welcomes The Green Deal, at the same time as there are many details that need to be clarified, and work is underway to analyze and decide on the many proposals. The Green Deal will be the focus of work within the EU in the coming years.

Svemin is also on top of things as the work on a Roadmap for Biological Diversity is underway, which meets well with the sub-strategy in The Green Deal on Biological Diversity, which will be presented in March next year.

Svemin 2019/2020

Electrifying the processes

In Sweden, the debate on the importance of electricity and biofuel supply has intensified during the year, not least given the various studies that point to a relatively sharp increase in electricity demand going forward. For the mining and minerals industry, electrification is an important step for achieving fossil independency, which is described in the Roadmap for a competitive fossil-free mining and minerals industry in Sweden. This is also demonstrated in the many ongoing conversions, away from fossil use in mining trucks and work machines. Electrifying the processes is also an important measure, for example in projects such as Hybrit. In April 2019, Svemin published a follow-up roadmap for fossil independency based on the Roadmap published in April 2018, and supplemented with new initiatives in the industry.

Maria Sunér Fleming, CEO

Kerstin Brinnen, Legal Counsel, Exploration, Land Issues

Lars-Åke Lindahl, Director Environment and Coordinator EU Affairs

Jesper Hedin, Director Skill Supply

Hanna Stenegren, Director Climate and Environment (parental leave)

Moa Wejle, Assistant

Emma Härdmark, Director Communications

Linus Ljungström, Communications

Åsa Dahlfors, Director Health and Safety