SWEDEN Law and Practice Contributed by: Peter Dyer and Alexandra Thörnroos, Wåhlin Advokater AB
cal minerals and metals list and all necessary for the production of electric cars, solar panels, battery parks and other assets needed for the green transition. With its vast deposits of miner - als and metals critical for innovation and with the greatly heightened European interest in such deposits, Sweden is set to play an important role in the ongoing climate transition and the efforts of the EU to reduce its dependency on imported critical minerals. Another development is the renewed prospect of uranium mining in Sweden. The exploration of uranium was outlawed by a centre-left coali - tion government in 2018 on the grounds of envi - ronmental and health concerns, but the current nuclear-friendly conservative-led government has repeatedly stated its intention to lift the ban on uranium prospecting and mining. More than a quarter of Europe’s known uranium resources are found in Sweden’s bedrock. Uranium often
occurs together with other metals and currently needs to be separated and managed as waste. The current government wants to enable the uti - lisation of uranium and has on December 20, 2024 published the findings of a public inquiry which has examined what regulatory chang - es are needed to allow uranium extraction in Sweden going forward. The resulting propos - als include amending the Environmental code (1988:808) and the Minerals Act (1991:45) so as to lift the prohibition and once again recog - nise uranium as a legal mineral for prospecting and mining. The inquiry’s report has now been referred to expert bodies for comment. The changes are proposed to come into effect on January 1, 2026. Market expectations have led to increased exploration activity related to poly - metallic deposits that include uranium. Interest in Swedish uranium is expected to grow further when the government proceeds to propose a formal bill to introduce the amendments.
486 CHAMBERS.COM
Powered by FlippingBook