Column:
What will the value of mining be in future legislation?

The three key prerequisites for the utilisation of mineral commodity are geology, raw material prices and the operating environment provided by the Mining Act. What will Finland’s situation be in the future?

In 2011, Finland’s geological environment and mineral raw material resources will not have changed. If this is a prediction, it is one with a minimal risk factor indeed. Correspondingly, forecasts suggest that commodity prices will be considerably higher a few years from now. However, the price risk is big, even significant.

The new Mining Act will have entered into force in 2011. Prospecting and development of mining will continue in a changed environment. This is more of a statement than a prediction. Why is there not a risk of the operating environment weakening significantly?

Let us take a look at the past. At the turn of the millennium, the by-product and waste issues of mines were a significant worry. The 1999 Mining Act Working Group was not unanimous in its statement with regard to this question. At the time, the mining industry considered that the Working Group should have more clearly solved and drawn a line between mining legislation and other legislation, in particular waste legislation. Time has now passed and the industry has learned to live with the waste categorisation. Waste issues continue to be on the agenda albeit in a constructive manner. The different parties have jointly pursued solutions or at least adapted. Mining has continued, and new mines have been opened in Finland after 1999.

The current Mining Act dates from 1965. The Parliament will update the approval conditions and background assumptions of mining when processing the new Mining Act. After that, Finland will have a Mining Act that aims to promote and organise mining and the required use of areas and ore prospecting in a sustainable manner in terms of the society, finances and ecology. These can be considered good objectives.

The core message of the Ministry of Employment and the Economy is that mining has a significant role as a part of Finnish economic life. Several contradicting interests are associated with mining and the ore prospecting preceding it, but from the Ministry’s point of view, they can be harmonised.

Future permit processing using the rules of the new Act depends strongly on whether the authorities’ resources are sufficient to the level required by the Act. The state’s economy has weakened and choices must be made. This is a question of the credibility of mineral policy.

So, the year 2011 is slightly over a year from now. What else can be predicted? The mining industry in Finland has made new initiatives with which it seeks to significantly increase its acceptability. The most interesting of the new proposals is the plan to support the local mining areas. Everyone can evaluate their own risks.

Pekka Suomela
Pekka Suomela works as Chief Inspector of Mines at Ministry of Employment and the Economy and has led as Chairman the Mining Act Working Group 1999–2002.