London-listed Beowulf Mining remains in the dark about the process and timeline to a decision on its Kallak project, in Sweden, and its CEO has now written Enterprise and Innovation Minister Ibrahim Baylan about the magnetite iron-ore project.

The company has been lobbying the Swedish government for several years to secure the concession for Kallak North, which it believes will create several hundred jobs.

However, Country Administrative Board (CAB) for Norbotten has advised against the issue of an exploitation licence for the project, stating that using the land for reindeer herding would be the best use of the land. Beowulf maintains that mining and reindeer herding could prosper side by side and argues that the mine should have no material impact on reindeer herding in Laponia.

"We have respectfully reminded all ministries in the government that in 2015 the CAB supported the economic case for Kallak, and the Mining Inspectorate recommended to the government that the concession be awarded. 

"I am concerned that weight may be being given to the CAB's statement from November 2017, and this is a matter I am discussing with advisers in Stockholm. The CAB's failure to consider the financial health of Jokkmokk Municipality starkly contrasts with the announced budget cuts from the Mayor of Jokkmokk earlier this year and the government's regional development agenda, as stated in its ‘January Agreement’.  

"Jokkmokk needs investment and jobs, and deserves to have a thriving, diversified and sustainable economy, that includes reindeer herding, tourism, forestry, mining, and the many enterprises that display the town's entrepreneurial spirit. The endgame is not about building a mine, it is about delivering an integrated plan for Jokkmokk's economic future, with Kallak as the foundation,” said CEO Kurt Budge.

Budge said that, in the absence of the Norra Kärr case, the concession should have been awarded in 2016 and Beowulf would now have been three years into the development of Kallak.

The Mining Inspectorate confirmed in July 2017 that the company's environmental impact assessment was consistent in meeting the Supreme Administrative Court's (SAC’s) requirements in the Norra Kärr judgement.

The Norra Kärr case relates to an SAC decision in February 2016 to cancel then Tasman Metals’ mining lease. The court determined that decision by the Mining Inspectorate was incorrect, as the decision to grant the licence was not adequately supported by environmental studies into a future mining operation. As a result, the Norra Kärr licence was cancelled, and the project reverted to an exploration licence. The SAC decision to cancel the mining lease could not be appealed, but Tasman was left free to re-apply for a mining licence.