Greta Thunberg condemns UK firm’s plans for iron mine on Sami land
A British company has fallen foul of Greta Thunberg, Unesco, Sweden’s national church, and the indigenous people in the north of the country over plans for an open-pit mine on historical Sami reindeer-herding lands.
The clamour of opposition was voiced as Beowulf Mining, headquartered in the City of London, suggested it was “hopeful” of a decision within weeks of a 5 sq mile iron-ore mine in an area where Sami communities have lived for thousands of years.
The company’s share price has been on a sharp upward trajectory since December when the Swedish Greens, who have opposed the plans, left the governing coalition and the Social Democratic business minister, Karl-Petter Thorwaldsson, declared that his party “loved mines” and hoped to open more.
But the proposed Gállok site, located 28 miles (45km) outside the town of Jokkmokk in the county of Norrbotten in Swedish Sápmi, commonly known as Lappland, has become a symbol of what has been condemned as a callous and unlawful disregard for the protected status of Sami culture by big business and government.
The Sami parliament, the representative body for people of indigenous heritage in Sweden, has in recent days written to the Swedish government warning that the mine will destroy grazing areas and cut off the only viable migratory route for reindeer followed by the Jåhkågasska Sami community, who move westerly with their animals to the high hills of the Laponian area on the Norwegian border for the animals to calve during the spring.
Sami communities to the west and east of the mine would also be hit through a reduction in viable grazing areas already under pressure from changes to the snow conditions attributed to the climate emergency, logging, power lines and the development
Read more on theguardian.com
