Environmental permitting process, implementation of water directive, evaluating consequences for Swedish mining

Important results from the project

The overall purpose of this study is to examine more closely the design of the environmental legal review that takes place before the processing and extraction of minerals in mining operations in the Swedish system. What were the underlying motives for designing the Swedish environmental permit process with the court as the first instance of review? How are the roles assigned to different authorities handled. How efficient is the Swedish environmental process, from a societal perspective? The aim of the project has been to study the processes.

Expected long term effects

** Denna text är maskinöversatt ** The project has resulted in 4 seminars and three reports on how to look at the project´s issues and proposals for continued work to strengthen the processes around permits and water directives. Swedish mineral legislation is unique in that it does not clearly define who owns the so-called concession minerals. This creates uncertainty and can have consequences in terms of "legitimacy" for the state´s actions, primarily towards landowners, but also other property owners.

Approach and implementation

** Denna text är maskinöversatt ** KTH and LTU have analyzed documents supplied by the mining companies. SGAB has made an international comparison. The collaboration between mining companies and academia has been fruitful.