JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – London-listed Beowulf Mining has appointed Copenhagen Economics to commission an economic study of the benefits of a mining operation at Kallak, in Sweden.
The study would seek to articulate the economic benefits to Jokkmokk and Norrbotten and provide a “big picture” of how a mining operation at Kallak would fit in with the objectives of Swedish policy and the country's decision-makers, Beowulf CEO Kurt Budge said on Friday.
The project would build on the work carried out to date, by the company and others, including the 2015 independent socioeconomic study initiated by Jokkmokks Kommun, completed by consultants Ramböll, which concluded that a mining development would create direct and indirect jobs, increase tax revenues and slow down population decline.
Budge said Copenhagen Economics had the requisite expertise of the regional mining sector, noting that the company recently published a review of the attractiveness of the Swedish mining sector on a number of parameters, including licensing and regulation. This review was commissioned by the Swedish Agency for Growth Policy Analysis.
The Kallak project has faced several permit approval delays and has been stuck in the approval process for nearly three years. Budge attended the politically important Almaden Week to push Swedish government officials for a decision on the iron-ore mine. The company said earlier this month, though, that it did not expect much progress on the application until the start of the new Parliamentary session after the summer holiday in mid-September.