SWEDEN Law and Practice Contributed by: Peter Dyer, Alexandra Thörnroos and Jonna Sjöström, Wåhlin Advokater AB
Any minerals not listed in the Minerals Act belong to the landowner. The reasoning behind this legislation is that landowners in general are considered not to have the expertise or capacity to exploit mineral resources on their land. The rules are the same regardless of whether the landowner is a private or public entity or an individual. 1.4 Role of the State in Mining Law and Regulations The role of the Swedish State is essentially that of grantor and regulator. There is no expectation of par - ticipation by the State as explorer or operator, whether through joint ventures, shareholdings or otherwise. However, the State has retained its historical owner - ship of 100% of the shares in LKAB, Sweden’s fore - Mineral rights do not have a constitutional basis but derive from law, principally in the form of the Minerals Act. Any commercial entities are free to enter into con - tracts for joint ventures, earn-in agreements, transfers of permits and other transactions regarding mineral rights. To the extent that such agreements change any circumstances that are subject to existing permits, the parties may need consent from the relevant authority. Mineral rights (ie, permits) have the status of intellec - tual property in the Swedish legal system. 1.6 Granting of Mineral Rights most iron ore mining company. 1.5 Nature of Mineral Rights The main granting authority is the Mining Inspectorate, which is a national state authority. The Mining Inspec - torate will assess all applications for exploration per - mits and mining permits in Sweden, and also super - vises compliance with the Minerals Act (1991:45). The Mining Inspectorate also provides information about legislation and ongoing prospecting and processing for companies, interested parties, authorities, media and the public. The Mining Inspectorate is organised under the Geological Survey of Sweden (SGU) but has independent status in exercising authority. It is headed by the Chief Mining Inspector, who decides on issues in accordance with the Minerals Act. Decisions by the Inspectorate take the form of formal public authority decisions, which can be appealed to:
• a general administrative court; • a land and environmental court; or • the government, depending on the type of deci - sion. Apart from the fact that any mining operation must also be approved by the relevant regional land and environmental court (see 1.2 Legal System and Sources of Mining Law ), there is no overlap in juris - diction between state and regional authorities. 1.7 Mining: Security of Tenure An exploration permit is valid for a period of three years and can be extended for a maximum of 15 years. The conditions for extension depend on the likelihood of finding mineable minerals and the amount of explora - tion already conducted. For each extension, the con - ditions tend to become gradually stricter. The holder of an exploration permit has a preferen - tial right to acquire a mining permit for the area con - cerned. A mining permit will be granted if the applicant can show that the mineral deposit provides a sufficient probability of profitable mining, and provided that the location and nature of the deposit do not render it inappropriate to grant the permit for other reasons. A mining permit gives the holder the right to exploit a mineral deposit for a period of 25 years. This period can be extended for ten years at a time if work is performed on a regular basis in the stipulated area. If work is not performed on a regular basis in the area, the concession can still be extended for an additional period of ten years under certain circumstances – eg, if the mining operation can still be considered active or if it is otherwise motivated by the common inter - est that the mineral findings should continue to be exploited. Environmental permits may be time limited or valid for an unlimited time. However, even if unlimited, the environmental permit will be linked to the restrictions of the parallel mining permit under the Minerals Act. Both exploration permits and mining permits can be transferred to another party after approval by the Min - ing Inspectorate. Such permission can be granted if the intended new permit holder meets the conditions
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