The two foreign companies dominate mineral rights in Jämtland County.
This applies to the Australian Aura Energy and the Canadian District Metals AB. Both operate through their subsidiaries. Aura Energy through Vanadis Battery Metals, which has a total of 3 exploration permits, all in Oviken.
Canadian District Metals operates through its subsidiary Bergslagen Metals. They have a total of 17 of the 53 valid survey permits in Jämtland County. The company has mineral rights in both Oviken and Tåsjö. For potential investors, it is emphasized that the deposits not only contain battery metals such as vanadium, but also uranium.
In May, District Metals received the go-ahead for eight exploration permits. These alone cover over 91,000 hectares, of which some of the areas are located in Västerbotten County.
In Sweden’s bedrock are some of the world’s largest reserves of energy metals, mainly uranium but also some thorium.
Uranium is a weakly radioactive, metallic element that occurs naturally in rocks, soil and water.
The Swedish uranium deposits are found in alum shales and in ancient rock.
Uranium-rich alum shale occurs in Skåne, Västergötland, Östergötland, Öland, Närke and along the Swedish mountain chain.
This alum schist has uranium contents of 50–400 grams per ton, to be compared with usual contents in uranium-rich granites of 15–40 grams per ton.
The areas with the highest uranium concentrations in Sweden are Billingen in Västergötland 300 g per ton and in Jämtland county 250 g per ton.
Until 1982, SGU together with Svensk Kärnbränsleförsjörn AB conducted an extensive exploration for uranium in Sweden. At SGU’s mineral information office in Malå, there are maps, analyses, reports, borehole protocols and also drill cores preserved from the state uranium prospecting.
On August 1, 2018, an amendment to the Minerals Act (1991:45) entered into force, which means that uranium was removed from the list of concession minerals, i.e. a ban on the extraction of uranium was introduced.
This year, the government has set up a rapid investigation which has reviewed whether the ban can be lifted. The investigation was supposed to be presented on May 15, but was postponed.
Sweden’s resources make up approximately 27 percent of Europe’s uranium resources, based on what is known today (OECD NEA). Of the world’s total uranium resources, 0.2 percent is considered to be in Sweden.
Within the EU, among other things, a project is currently underway in Talvivaara, in Sotkamo, Finland, to soon recover uranium from mining.
Bergsstaten, is a special decision-making body within SGU, handles and decides on matters related to the exploration and extraction of minerals.
(source: SGU, Geological Survey of Sweden)