Mineral policy at a crossroads? Critical reflections on the challenges with expanding Sweden’s mining sector

Abstract

In this paper, we analyse the critique that has accompanied sustained efforts made in recent years by the Government of Sweden to facilitate global investment in the country's mining sector. The minerals market in the 21st century has been characterized by increasing global prices. In Sweden, the largest mining nation within the EU, this has led to what has been identified as a mining boom. The governmental mining policy, aimed at attracting an increasing part of the global venture capital seeking to profit from the volatile but lucrative minerals market, has been met with growing domestic resistance, fuelled by what has been perceived as dangers and side effects of a rapidly expanding Swedish mining industry. This resistance has largely focused on the mineral strategy launched by the government in 2013, as it crystallized the neoliberal ideas judged by critics to severely jeopardize social, cultural, economic and environmental values. After a critical analysis of the mineral strategy, we go on to analyse the mining-critical discourse, concluding with a discussion where we highlight the main implications of the analysis and identify a possible path for compromise between proponents and opponents of the mineral strategy.