DMX - Future uranium mines in SwedenGoogle translate of swedish article:
https://www.dagensps.se/foretag/uranforbud-stoppar-en-ny-gruv-boom/
"The Swedish ban on extracting uranium should be lifted. This is because, according to experts, a uranium ban prevents both investments in other rare metals and stops new mines and jobs.
One of those who opposes the ban is ore geologist Olof Martinsson.
"Since 2018, uranium may no longer be mined in Sweden. It not only stops us from exploiting Europe's largest reserves of uranium, but also makes it more expensive for the mining industry to invest in other, rarer metals," he says.
Martinsson, lecturer at Lule University of Technology, therefore wants the ban lifted.
"If you were to use the Swedish uranium for self-sufficiency, there is enough uranium to run nuclear power for several hundred years," he tells TN.
Problem solved
A fundamental reason for banning mining is that uranium is seen as an environmentally dangerous metal, an image Olof Martinsson wants to clarify.
"Uranium is admittedly a rather toxic metal, much like lead, and it is also radioactive. But if you mine it in a way that is done in modern mines in the Western world, I don't see any major environmental problem, neither for those who actively work in the mines nor for the local environment," he says.
"Need Uranium Mines"
The new right-wing government has now expressed interest in allowing uranium mining again.
"I think we need uranium mines in Sweden," said Climate and Environment Minister Romina Pourmokhtari to SVT recently.
According to Olof Martinsson, a disadvantage of the uranium ban is that it brings with it other problems for the mining industry.
They have to do with the fact that uranium is often found together with other metals.
In Sweden, vanadium and nickel are two examples, but it is also about, for example, molybdenum.
Will be too expensive
The interest in taking advantage of the mixed deposits that exist is decreasing because the uranium ban makes it too expensive to take care of the uranium, if you even get permission to mine it.
"When you mine, you get the uranium in the bargain, and if you then have to pay to send it to a landfill instead of using it as an additional source of income, it becomes more difficult to make the calculation work out. For many mixed deposits, it is therefore almost a prerequisite that the uranium ban is lifted," explains Olof Martinsson.
Attractive deposits
The mixed deposits are attractive, among other things, because they contain metals needed in batteries, solar cells, semiconductors and technical products.
"These deposits are mostly found in Jmtland, Vstergtland and Skne and a few other places," explains Olof Martinsson and adds:
"The deposits in Jmtland are quite large and for Jmtland as a county it would create quite a few jobs if the mining gets underway. If I were to guess, I would probably say between 300 and 1,000 jobs, perhaps"."