Finnish Mining Research Articles

Silent Steering: How Public Actors Indirectly Influence Private Stakeholder Engagement

Our understanding of how public actors directly influence stakeholder engagement through mechanisms such as regulation and licensing has been steadily improving. However, the indirect influence of public governance measures on stakeholder engagement remains less explored. This article seeks to bridge this gap by examining how public sector actors use participatory governance to influence private stakeholder engagement beyond public governance processes. We introduce the concept of silent steering to describe how indirect effects on stakeholder engagement occur. Through an in-depth case study of Finnish mining governance from 1995 to 2020, we uncover how silent steering of private engagement occurs through role-giving, example-giving, and expectation-giving. Through these processes, public actors can exert significant influence over industry- and firm-level private stakeholder engagement processes even when they are not present.

The origin, evolution and impacts of the mining-sceptical movement in Finland

The evolution of the Finnish mining-sceptical movement (MSM) is described and situated within the context of Finnish environmental protest waves (EPWs). This evolution occurred through the uranium debate (UD; since 2005) and mining debate (MD; 2010–ongoing). These stages are described and compared with the characteristics of the Finnish EPWs. The purpose is to determine whether the evolution of the MSM represents a new EPW in Finland.Five EPWs are reported to have occurred in Finland. After the end of the last EPW at the beginning of 2000s, the Finnish environmental movement lost its impetus, followed by a swell/latency. However, the climate change debate returned nuclear energy to the agenda. Together with the rebirth of the Finnish mining industry resulting from activities carried out by foreign companies, uranium exploration restarted in Finland in 2005, which raised opposition. The UD revitalised the environmental movement and opened spaces for local resistance in the countryside. Even though uranium exploration ended in Finland, the UD continued as attention shifted towards other projects associated with uranium. The environmental problems of the Talvivaara mine increased opposition and directed the MD towards projects also focused on other commodities. Because of its duration, impacts, and importance, the evolution of the MSM is suggested to form the sixth Finnish EPW.

Assessment of microbial communities from cold mine environments and subsequent enrichment, isolation and characterization of putative antimony- or copper-metabolizing microorganisms

Mining activities, even in arctic regions, create waste materials releasing metals and metalloids, which have an impact on the microorganisms inhabiting their surroundings. Some species can persist in these areas through tolerance to meta(loid)s via, e.g., metabolic transformations. Due to the interaction between microorganisms and meta(loid)s, interest in the investigation of microbial communities and their possible applications (like bioremediation or biomining) has increased. The main goal of the present study was to identify, isolate, and characterize microorganisms, from subarctic mine sites, tolerant to the metalloid antimony (Sb) and the metal copper (Cu). During both summer and winter, samples were collected from Finnish mine sites (site A and B, tailings, and site C, a water-treatment peatland) and environmental parameters were assessed. Microorganisms tolerant to Sb and Cu were successfully enriched under low temperatures (4°C), creating conditions that promoted the growth of aerobic and fermenting metal(loid) tolerating or anaerobic metal(loid) respiring organism. Microbial communities from the environment and Sb/Cu-enriched microorganisms were studied via 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing. Site C had the highest number of taxa and for all sites, an expected loss of biodiversity occurred when enriching the samples, with genera like Prauserella, Pseudomonas or Clostridium increasing their relative abundances and others like Corynebacterium or Kocuria reducing in relative abundance. From enrichments, 65 putative Sb- and Cu-metabolizing microorganisms were isolated, showing growth at 0.1 mM to 10 mM concentrations and 0°C to 40°C temperatures. 16S rRNA gene sequencing of the isolates indicated that most of the putative anaerobically Sb-respiring tolerators were related to the genus Clostridium. This study represents the first isolation, to our knowledge, of putative Sb-metabolizing cold-tolerant microorganisms and contributes to the understanding of metal (loid)-tolerant microbial communities in Arctic mine sites.

Chemical and isotopic evidence to clarify the salinity of the bedrock groundwater at Finnish mining site

Study regionLithium mine in Ostrobothnia, Western Finland. Study focusClear anomalous electrical conductivity horizons and high salinity (Cl, Na, Ca) of groundwater were identified in several exploration boreholes. As these could not be explained thoroughly with geological variations, further studies on the origin of the anomalies were suggested. It was speculated that the abrupt rise in electrical conductivity shows a horizon of waters of different ages, the lower being either old brine, or having ancient marine origin. To understand the processes controlling the hydrochemistry and the evolution of the salinity of the groundwater, the hydrogeochemistry and isotopic composition (δ2H, δ18O, 87 Sr/86 Sr, 3 H, 14 C, δ13C) was analysed in 13 boreholes, two lakes, a test pit and a stream. New Hydrological insights for the regionThe isotope and geochemistry results indicate long residence times (up to 10,000 years BP), but no strong water-rock interaction and a typical Litorina SO4 layer is missing. The mismatching results could be explained by 1) the fact that even a small amount of ancient brine or ancient sea water mixing with fresh groundwater would affect water geochemistry, while the isotopic composition would stay immutable, or 2) the salinity originates from pre-Litorina SO4-poor brackish groundwater due to an earlier uplift from the Baltic Sea. Therefore, the groundwaters of the site are interpreted as a mixture of modern meteoric and fresh HCO3 water, brackish pre-Litorina subglacial groundwater, and glacial melt water.

Prohibition of Retrogression of Sámi Culture and the Finnish Mining Act

This Article discusses the prohibition of retrogression of the culture of the Sámi people enforced by the Finnish Constitution and international conventions and whether it has been included in the current Finnish Mining Act in a sufficient manner. The article also discusses how the prohibition has been ensured in two main decisions of the Finnish Supreme Administrative Court considering the subject. The article is based on the author’s Bachelor’s thesis on the subject which examines the culture of the Sámi people and the mining law. The research method used in the article is mainly legal dogmatics which is used to systemize the mining law and interpret its provisions considering the prohibition of harming the culture of the Sámi people using different legal interpretation methods. In addition to that, some decisions of the Finnish Supreme Administrative Court, statements of the Constitution committee and the statements of the Sámi assembly are analyzed in the article. After the introduction, the article presents a brief overview of Sámi culture and examines then the prohibition of retrogression of the culture in the context of the Finnish Constitution, international law and the Mining Act. Then the article examines two of the most important Finnish Supreme Administrative Court cases considering the subject and after that, it is examined how the prohibition materializes in practice in the point of view of the Sámi assembly. The last chapter contains the summary and the conclusions. The most noteworthy conclusion seems to be that although it might at first seem that the prohibition of retrogression has been included in the Mining Act the proper way, the reality in practice is much different. The rights of the Sámi people as indigenous people are not ensured well enough because of the obscurity and vagueness of the provisions of the Act.

Local governance of the mining industry—five Finnish examples

In this article local governance of mining from the perspective of Finnish municipalities is examined. Local governance refers to the guidance of the local development of mining and its positive and negative effects in the interaction between different actors. At the time of this study, one of the themes of the Finnish mining debate was how the municipality should prepare for the entry of a mining project into its area. In addition, there was talk about whether, why, and how the mining company should be involved in the development of the area. The situation was new, as it was decades since the previous construction of new mines. Article is based on a qualitative case studies on five Finnish municipalities with metal ore mining was operated or planned. These case studies are examined retrospectively be asking what was desired at that time, what responsibilities and duties between municipalities and mining companies were seen, and to whom did they belong? The article evaluates the situation immediately after the Finnish mining boom.The role of the municipality as a political actor in mining development was different in each case. The main question was whether to handle mining development as a political issue or whether to take it as granted as a neutral industrial issue. It was clear that the mining companies were expected to develop a completely new kind of dialogue with the surrounding society and the local governments. Environmental issues and impacts caused the largest discussions in the local level.According to this research, municipalities must multi-task between the land-use planning, local governance of social and environmental issues, and economic development. Municipalities must take and manage risks, just like mining companies. For these municipalities the mining boom raised various controversial issues and economic challenges. Many ideas about solutions have to date progressed to a broader societal debate. Now these issues are on display e.g., in the context of the Mining Act reform discussions. It can be said that the mining boom challenged the actors to develop cooperation, proactive collaborative operating models and to reform the methods of environmental impact assessments. They have also given greater weight to social impact assessment and the issue of developing it as an independent process.

Community Benefit Agreements in the Nordic mining context: Local opportunities for collaboration in Sodankylä, Finland

A changing operational environment and the growing opposition to mining in the Nordics, and more broadly in Europe, encourages the testing of new approaches to mineral resource governance. A Community Benefit Agreement (CBA) is an instrument based on local negotiations, which has been mostly utilized in indigenous contexts, but may hold promise in other societal contexts. However, a new context means different needs and concerns, requiring adjustments to existing models. In this article, we empirically analyze what factors drive local stakeholders toward collaboration over the impacts and benefits of mining and how a CBA could be realized in Sodankylä, Finland. The data consists of interviews and observations collected from a four-year period of action research. The findings validate the relevance of CBAs or similar arrangements in the Finnish mining context. Our study suggests that CBAs excel at addressing the challenges and opportunities that arise from the unique local social and environmental characteristics, which are difficult to address with non-local instruments. Our case shows that the municipality represents only part of the community's interests, which is impacted by mining in varying ways. The roles of local community groups and the municipality in a CBA are key considerations for implementation.

Sulfur analyses and mineralogical data in the preliminary mine waste characterization

The objective of this study was to investigate the use of the acid production potential (AP) calculation factor and seven different S analysis methods in the preliminary mine waste characterization by analyzing and comparing 48 Finnish mine waste samples. Special attention was paid on mineralogical aspects and data produced in the exploration phase of a mining project.According to our results, the abundance of sulfide species other than pyrite in Finnish mine waste suggests that the factor to calculate the AP should be considered based on mineralogy and would often be below 31.25. Therefore, the mineralogy-based determination of S should be preferred. However, the determination of S based on scanning electron microscope (SEM) mineralogy includes some uncertainties. Underestimation of S content may appear if not all S-bearing mineral particles have been detected, or if the amount of S is low in general. This uncertainty appears to be especially related to the samples containing elevated (> 9 wt%) amounts of serpentine, diopside, augite, and/or hornblende. Risk of overestimating AP is related to samples containing high amounts (> 4.13 wt%) of S-bearing minerals. These uncertainties can be reduced by inspecting that the SEM mineralogy-based S concentrations are in line with the energy dispersive X-ray spectrometer data. The aqua regia extractable S concentrations, which are often available in the exploration phase, appeared to be usable in the preliminary waste rock AP assessment and often comparable with the analytical total S values in the Finnish waste rock samples, especially when the samples did not contain any sulfate minerals. In contrast, the analytical sulfide S and the X-ray fluorescence methods may lead to an underestimation of AP.

Corporate conduct, commodity and place: Ongoing mining and mineral exploration disputes in Finland and their implications for the social license to operate

The Finnish mining and mineral exploration disputes (MMEDs) of the 2000s started with the uranium dispute (2006–2008), when the global mining industry rushed into Finland. The Finnish mining skeptical movement originated by focusing on projects associated with uranium. One of these projects, the Talvivaara polymetallic mine, became the key event of the following mining dispute because of its gypsum pond leakage in 2012. Many disputes have persisted for years, while others have ended, and new ones have appeared.Twenty ongoing disputes were identified in Finland. Fourteen of the cases are related to mineral exploration, four to mine projects, and two to mines. The long-term disputes are mostly focused on mines and mine projects in northern Finland, whereas the most recent disputes are mostly related to mineral exploration in southeastern Finland. The main reasons for disputes are the conflicting use of land (indigenous Sámi homeland, lake regions with holiday homes, nature conservation, reindeer herding, and tourism), an association with uranium, poor corporate conduct (lack of communication and stakeholder engagement) and/or reputation.The identification, mapping and monitoring of MMEDs in Finland will support future studies regarding the analysis of their causes, dynamics, evolution, actors, and possible solutions. Their investigation can help to understand and avoid disputes, conciliate diverse interests, and solve disagreements.

Digging in the dark: reviewing international literature to address impending policy challenges for Swedish and Finnish mining

The mining industries of Sweden and Finland currently face several policy issues around investment, stakeholder involvement, and sustainability. Since the two countries garnered significant attention during the mining boom, research from a social sciences perspective grew significantly. One approach to understanding how these issues in Sweden and Finland compare to international examples is through an analysis of the policy development framework. Looking at three factors—institutions, actors, and process—gives a broad overview of the imminent challenges in both Sweden and Finland and potential lessons from existing research that point to similar problems and their solutions. As the mining operations continue to sit at the center of different values, capable policy is required.

Waste water discharge from a large Ni-Zn open cast mine degrades benthic integrity of Lake Nuasjärvi (Finland)

The Talvivaara/Terrafame multi-metal mining company is Europe’s largest nickel open cast mine, it is also known for the largest wastewater leakage in the Finnish mining history and a series of other accidents. In this paleolimnological study, influences of a recently constructed treated waste water discharge pipeline into Lake Nuasjärvi were investigated by analyzing past (pre-disturbance) and present community compositions of key aquatic organism groups, including diatoms, Cladocera and Chironomidae, along spatial (distance, water depth) gradients. In addition to defining ecological changes and impacts of saline mine waters in the lake, chironomids were used to quantitatively reconstruct bottom water oxygen conditions before and after the pipe installation (in 2015). The diatom and cladoceran communities, which reflect more the open-water habitat, showed only relatively minor changes throughout the lake, but a general decrease in diversity was observed within both groups. Chironomids, which live on substrates, showed more significant changes, including complete faunal turnovers and deteriorated benthic quality, especially at the sites close to the pipe outlet, where also chironomid diversity was almost completely lost. Furthermore, the reconstructed hypolimnetic oxygen values indicated a major oxygen decline and even anoxia at the sites near the pipe outlet. The limnoecological influence of the pipe decreased at sites located counter-flow or behind underwater barriers suggesting that the waste waters currently have location-specific impacts. Our study clearly demonstrates that whereas the upper water layers appear to have generally maintained their previous state, the deep-water layers close to the pipe outlet have lost their ecological integrity. Furthermore, the current hypolimnetic anoxia close to the pipe indicates enhanced lake stratification caused by the salinated mine waters. This study clearly exhibits the need to investigate different water bodies at several trophic levels in a spatiotemporal context to be able to reliably assess limnoecological impacts of mining.

Comparison of static and mineralogical ARD prediction methods in the Nordic environment

Acid rock drainage (ARD) is a major problem related to the management of mining wastes, especially concerning deposits containing sulphide minerals. Commonly used tests for ARD prediction include acid–base accounting (ABA) tests and the net acid generation (NAG) test. Since drainage quality largely depends on the ratio and quality of acid-producing and neutralising minerals, mineralogical calculations could also be used for ARD prediction. In this study, several Finnish waste rock sites were investigated and the performance of different static ARD test methods was evaluated and compared. At the target mine sites, pyrrhotite was the main mineral contributing to acid production (AP). Silicate minerals were the main contributors to the neutralisation potential (NP) at 60% of the investigated mine sites. Since silicate minerals appear to have a significant role in ARD generation at Finnish mine waste sites, the behaviour of these minerals should be more thoroughly investigated, especially in relation to the acid produced by pyrrhotite oxidation. In general, the NP of silicate minerals appears to be underestimated by laboratory measurements. For example, in the NAG test, the slower-reacting NP-contributing minerals might require a longer time to react than is specified in the currently used method. The results suggest that ARD prediction based on SEM mineralogical calculations is at least as accurate as the commonly used static laboratory methods.

Valorization of Finnish mining tailings for use in the ceramics industry

Valorization of Finnish mining tailings for use in the ceramics industry

Tax-driven wealth chains: A multiple case study of tax avoidance in the finnish mining sector

Abstract This paper contributes to recent discussions of corporate tax avoidance and global wealth chains. Drawing on multiple case studies, we outline the key strategies adopted by Finnish mining companies as they seek to lower their tax burden. After screening the accounts of the companies mining metallic ores in Finland, we provide an in-depth analysis of the tax avoidance arrangements at three of these mines. The mines were operated by two Canadian enterprises that utilized seven different tax avoidance arrangements. The multiple case study approach adopted in this paper is helpful in developing both quantitative and qualitative tax avoidance research, since our findings highlight major deficiencies of datasets commonly used in the dominant quantitative tax avoidance research. Our qualitative approach helps tackle some of the limitations imposed on tax researchers as a result of the considerable secrecy surrounding tax matters. In particular, we argue that the existing tax avoidance research has focused too much on statutory corporate income tax rates even though today, tax minimization relies mostly on specific tax incentives and other loopholes in tax laws. We argue that the arrangements we describe mirror a wider phenomenon where multinational enterprises exert societal power commonly associated with sovereign states. Crossing the disciplinary boundaries of accounting, political economy and tax law, we also contribute to the emerging research agenda on global wealth chains. We call for more attention to the intersections between accounting and tax law for understanding how enterprises can separate their value chains from the intra-firm flows of wealth.

Laws for Nothing and Ores for Free? A Case Study of Tax Planning in the Finnish Mining Sector

Corporate tax avoidance and extractive industry taxation have become much-discussed topics. We contribute to these discussions with a multiple case study of tax planning in the mining industry. Bas...

Spatial Causalities in Resource Rushes: Notes from the Finnish Mining Boom

Since the mid‐2000s, the world has seen an unprecedented expansion in corporate resource extraction. This global phenomenon has not been restricted to the Global South, but has also been, unexpectedly and interestingly, felt in the Global North in contexts that were considered to be ruled by political systems where the impacts of rapid resource extraction would not be felt. Between 2005 and 2010, for example, the volume of metallic ore and waste rock mining in Finland increased from fewer than 5 million tons to 46 million tons, mostly through the inauguration of four large mines in the east and north of the country. This paper examines the various explanations for the mining expansion, based on expert interviews, participant observation and a spatial analysis of the change dynamics. The importance and causalities in the control and divisions of social, physical and symbolic spaces are assessed, drawing on and interweaving the theories of Arrighi and Harvey, and conceptualizations of Moore and Bourdieu. A series of fertile conceptual tools for analysing the role of spatial dynamics in land‐use changes is developed and put to work in the empirical analysis. The results are significant for the literatures on spatial dynamics and Arctic land‐use change.

Water and society: mutual challenges for eco-efficient and socially acceptable mining in Finland

Abstract As a result of an increased global demand on metals and minerals a number of new metal mines have been launched into operation around the world. In Finland, the reviving mining industry has faced public criticism regarding its social licence to operate. A central theme in this criticism is a concern for water management and the release of effluents into the environment. This article reviews the environmental and social performance of the Finnish mining sector in water related issues. Main challenges are in water use and water quality and finding alternative solutions based on technologies, environmental indicators, and different means of communication.

THE FINNISH MINING ACT

THE FINNISH MINING ACT

The Finnish Mining Act (Information for Foreign Investors)

The Finnish Mining Act (Information for Foreign Investors)

CIS mining industry in transition

Abstract In this article Gonzalo Oroza argues that the mineral industry in the world as a whole is facing a challenging period of changes as a result of the economic and political disintegration of the Soviet Union. It gives a broad overview of CIS mining industry and examines reserves, legislation, consumption production, control and international cooperation, with special reference to steel, aluminum and nickel. It was originally published by the Government Institute for Economic Research in Helsinki (VATT-research report 24, 1994) with the title The CIS mining industry in a transition period - with special reference to Finnish mining prospects.