Beowulf Mining Contact Swedish Government

 

 

 

14 September 2021

Beowulf Mining plc

(“Beowulf” or the “Company”)

Letter to Minister Baylan

 

Beowulf (AIM: BEM; Spotlight: BEO), the mineral exploration and development company, has sent a letter from its CEO, Kurt Budge, to Sweden’s Minister of Enterprise and Innovation, Ibrahim Baylan, concerning the status of Beowulf’s Kallak application.

 

The letter is reproduced below:

 

CEO’s letter to the Minister:

London 2021.09.13

Statsrådet Ibrahim Baylan

Näringsdepartementet

 

Minister,

Jokkmokk Iron Mines AB, Kallak nr 1, Jokkmokks kommun, Norrbottens län – Application for an Exploitation Concession

I write to you to request a meeting to discuss the development of the Kallak Iron Ore Project (“Kallak”). 

Previously, you have said that a decision on Kallak will be made once UNESCO comments are received, and now that is the case, it appears you have everything you need to decide.

With your announced retirement last week, you can surely appreciate that the prospect of engaging with a third Minister over 6 years is of great concern to me.

In September 2017, your predecessor Mikael Damberg said that Swedish law is enough for testing the Kallak application and that the permitting process should be “by the book”. 

With the Concluding Statement, submitted to the Government by the Company’s lawyers in November 2019, we robustly demonstrated that under judicial review the Company’s application would satisfy all requirements for being granted a Concession. Only for that Statement to be met by silence and inaction on the part of the Government.

It is almost 2 years since you wrote to me, in September 2019, explaining that my request for a meeting at that time “concerns a forthcoming Government decision – a dossier that is currently under preparation” and for those reasons the Government was unable to meet or comment with regard to its “ongoing review”.

It is nearly 10 months since The Constitutional Committee (“KU”), in its review of the Government’s handling of the Company’s application for an Exploitation Concession for Kallak, made the following statement (translation):

“KU has examined the application for a processing concession for Kallak. In the Government case, no visible administrative measures were implemented for almost three years. This means a delay that is not acceptable, according to KU.

It also appears that the applicant has on several occasions asked the Ministry of Trade and Industry for a meeting. The Ministry has then stated that this is not possible because the issue concerns a forthcoming Government decision and is a matter under consideration.

KU notes that the Ministry management’s statement does not seem to be in line with what the Prime Minister has stated. The Government Offices thus seem to lack a common approach to the possibility for parties in administrative matters to have a meeting with the responsible ministry.”

It is 18 months since we both attended the Mining Nordic Day in Toronto in early March 2020, at which event you saved your biggest welcome for investors. I reminded you that Beowulf has been invested in Sweden and working on Kallak since 2006.  You also said that I was welcome to do business in Sweden.

It continues to be the case, that Beowulf is unable to do business in Sweden, because we cannot get a decision on Kallak and play our part in the Country’s sustainable mining future.

Fossil-free steel making in Sweden is in the ascendency.  Yet when it comes to permitting, there is no visible understanding exhibited by authorities or the Government that steel plants need sustainably produced high quality iron ore, like Kallak’s market-leading 71.5 per cent magnetite iron concentrate.

Jokkmokk desperately needs investment and jobs. Kallak will bring billions of SEK in investment and hundreds of jobs to the municipality that will keep people employed and support families for decades.

The application you have on your desk is for Kallak North.  Yet the Company has continued to invest, explore and assess the potential in the Kallak area, and, in May 2021, with our licences Kallak South and Parkijaure, we upgraded the global Mineral Resource Estimate showing the potential for up to 389 million tonnes of iron ore mineralisation that could support mining for 30-40 years. More than doubling the current estimated life of Kallak North.

As with Kiruna or Aitik, the full potential of any mining development is not presented with the first application. Mines last longer than first envisaged, workers hold jobs for longer, taxes get paid for longer, municipalities like Jokkmokk recover and thrive, and minerals and metals get produced under the right conditions.

Investors in capital projects across sectors need to see transparency and predictability in permitting processes, which you have spoken of and which define competitive jurisdictions. Yet it appears you will leave office before the reviews you initiated have concluded, or any action taken to resolve the issues that have impeded business during the last 3 years.

In the case of Kallak, you now have the chance, before leaving office, to make a final decision that will make it possible for the Company to take the project forward in partnership with the community in Jokkmokk.

Yours sincerely,

 

Kurt Budge

Chief Executive Officer, Beowulf Mining plc

Director, Jokkmokk Iron Mines AB

 

Enquiries:

Beowulf Mining plc
Kurt Budge, Chief Executive Officer