New Mining Act could force ore-prospecting companies away from Finland

Mechanised gold panning to be restricted in Lemmenjoki National Park from 2015

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Olavi Paatsola, the Secretary General of the Finnish Association of Extractive Resources Industry (FAERI) says that the proposed new Mining Act along with increasing bureaucracy could force international ore-prospecting companies away from Finland.
      A working group preparing the reform of the Mining Act submitted its proposal to Minister of Economic Affairs Mauri Pekkarinen (Centre) on Wednesday.
     
According to the proposal, the new Mining Act would take account of environmental issues, citizens' fundamental rights, landowners' rights and the municipalities' opportunities to influence decision-making, while ensuring the preconditions for prospecting and mining operations.
      In the mining sector’s view, the most upsetting new feature would be the right of property owners and holders to prohibit prospecting work within their territory.
     
Until today, the only restriction has been that prospecting is not allowed within 50 metres from a residential building.
      ”Ore prospecting could be carried out if property owners do not explicitly forbid such work on their land. However, even in such cases it would be possible to apply for a claim permit, whereupon it would be up to the authorities to decide whether or not it is useful to go ahead with prospecting and to take samples”, reports Senior Legal Advisor Anja Liukko from the Ministry of Employment and the Economy.
      Liukko points out further that ore prospecting based on the general right to take samples, comparable with the rights of public access, will continue to be permitted.
      However, people exercising the right of access have an obligation neither to harm, disturb, litter, nor to damage wildlife or property.
     
Mining companies prospecting for uranium have provoked protests from people across Finland.
      ”The best solution to the controversy over uranium mining would be to separate out uranium from the terms of the Mining Act entirely. The present proposal does not do that,” says Conservation Secretary Tapani Veistola from the Finnish Association for Nature Conservation.
      Nevertheless the Association for Nature Conservation regards the proposal as good, as it finally takes into consideration the environmental aspect as well.
      ”At present, there are more than 70 mining enterprises in Finland. Many of them are small ore-prospecting foreign companies which do not have enough time and money for the time-consuming bureaucracy involving permits”, reports Olavi Paatsola.
      For example the major international nickel producer Inco Limited recently withdrew from Lapland, as the application process for a claim permit in the Sámi area had already taken more than two years.
      According to Paatsola, the mining and extractive industry currently employs a total of about 10,000 Finns. The number is continuously growing, as the excavating volumes will soon be fivefold.
     
Pekka Perä, the Managing Director of the Talvivaara mine in Sotkamo, says that the present Mining Act is good enough.
      ”We have not had any trouble with local people and the post-processing of the area has been secured by a deposit of EUR 40 million”, Perä reports. He says the mine has had to get a total of 34 different permits, only two of which were actually based on the Mining Act.
      Perä is also concerned that the overlapping permit procedures could make the opening of mines too difficult.
      According to the Mining Act proposal, granting permits, supervision and other official tasks under the Mining Act would be centralised with the Safety Technology Authority (TUKES).
      In Tapani Veistola’s view, granting permits should be transferred to the Environmental Permit Authorities, as TUKES has no environmental knowledge.
     
At the same time, the new Mining Act proposal would restrict mechanised gold panning in the Lemmenjoki National Park in Lapland after a transitional period and by 2015.
      The proposal notes that mechanised panning has grown to such dimensions that it is impossible to control its effects on the local watercourses and land-areas.
      The mechanised extraction of gold muddies the water and disturbs fish, and the miners' all-terrain vehicles are destroying the ground in the park.
      The prospectors are stunned at the proposal and regard it as a "declaration of war" on professional gold-washers, who first brought mechanised extraction of gold to the remote area in the 1950s.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Proposed mining law could blunt budding Lapland gold rush (9.6.2006)

Links:
  Freedom to Roam (Wikipedia)
  Environmental Permit Authorities
  Finnish Government press release (8.10.2008): Mining Act Working Group issues proposal for overall reform of the act
  Finnish Association for Nature Conservation
  Lemmenjoki National Park

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