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Sweden s sami fight kallak mine plans
The Kallak Iron Deposit is one of the largest unexploited iron ore deposits in Sweden. It is located between the villages of Björkholmen and Randijaur in the municipality of Jokkmokk in the province of Norrbotten in northern Sweden. The site is on the ancestral lands of the indigenous Sami people and forms part of the reindeer winter grazing lands of the Sami village of Sirges. The name Kallak is the Swedish form of Gállok, which is the original name of the place in the saami language.
The Kallak north and Kallak south prospects were identified by the Geological Survey of Sweden in the 1940s. In the late 1960s the SGU identified Kallak north as containing 92 million tonnes of ore and Kallak south as containing 29 million tonnes of ore at a grade of roughly 35%.
Beowulf Mining acquired the Kallak north licence in 2006, and a drill program conducted in 2010 has found at least 175 Mt of Iron at an average grade of 30%. Beowulf acquired the Kallak south licence from Tasman Metals Limited in mid-2010. An ongoing drill program has shown Kallak south to contain at least 400 million tonnes of Iron at an average grade of 30%.
The combined Kallak deposit contains at least 600 million tonnes of Iron and it is believed that the north and south deposits are connected at depth to give a single iron deposit with a strike length of over 4 kilometers.
In mid-2010 an independent conceptual study performed by the Raw Materials Group showed that the Kallak north deposit, which at the time was thought to contain 150 million tonnes of iron at 30% grading, was commercially viable. Given the significant increase in tonnage at Kallak an updated conceptual study is anticipated in 2011.
The plans to establish a mine at the site has met resistance from the indigenous Saami people as well as other local inhabitants. On July 1, 2013, protesters set up a road blockade in order to prevent test drilling. On July 30, the blockade was dismantled by the police, but on the next day the blockade was set up again.
In 2014, Norrbotten County said no to further mining in Kallak; the case would be closed if the Swedish governmental geology decision-making body Bergsstaten had agreed with Norrbotten County. However, Bergsstaten overruled the county and it is now up to the government of Sweden to give a final answer to the question.