"Mining Europe’s biggest rare earth deposit could make life ‘impossible’ for Sámi communities", 11 February 2023

In January, Swedish state-owned mining company LKAB discovered more than 1 million tonnes of rare earth minerals in Kiruna, Sweden. These rare earth minerals are key components to transitioning away from fossil-fuels, present from electric vehicle batteries to mobile phones to wind turbines. And the discovery of this deposit - just 30 kilometres from the Arctic circle - prompted a slew of celebratory headlines...

But it's a different story for the Indigenous Sámi population that lives near the site.  Local Sámi communities are allegedly already affected by an existing Kiruna iron ore mine - and fear the new deposit discovery will threaten their traditional migration routes...

“Sámi culture is based on a traditional way of land use that has taken place long before Norway became Norway or Sweden became Sweden,” Karin Kvarfordt Niia, a spokesperson for the Gabna Sameby one of the local reindeer communities, tells Euronews Green...

To access the winter grazing lands they have been using for hundreds of years, the herders have to move from one side of Kiruna to the other. “It was important land for us and now this. We have a city and a huge mine,” Karin says.

The mine and the town have left the Gabna Sameby with just a small strip of land, a few kilometres wide, for their reindeer herd to migrate through. Infrastructure for the industry cuts across their historic routes, with railways and roads crisscrossing the land.

“We’re extremely impacted by the mine, LKAB has already cut off our different migration routes, and then the mine has caused damage to the lakes so we are not able to fish there,” Karin explains...

LKAB’s CEO Jan Mostrom described the discovery as “good news” not just for the company, the Kiruna region and the people of Sweden but also for Europe and the climate.

“It could become a significant building block for producing the critical raw materials that are absolutely crucial to enable the green transition,” he said in a statement...