EU fast-tracks two Finnish mine projects despite environmental concerns

The Finnish Association for Nature Conservation has criticised the European Commission for giving strategic project status to two proposed mines that could harm the environment, Yle reported.

The Sokli mine project in Savukoski and the Suhanko project in Ranua were added to the EU’s list of strategic raw material projects on Friday. They were among five Finnish projects selected in the second round of applications. The status gives projects an accelerated permitting process.

The association said the decision showed the Commission was not following its own sustainability criteria for mining. It argued that the status had been granted without critical scrutiny and despite the projects’ environmental impacts.

The association pointed to a 2022 ruling by Finland’s Supreme Administrative Court, which rejected an environmental and water management permit for the state-owned Sokli project because its harmful effects were too great.

For Suhanko, which is being advanced by Arctic Platinum, the association said a planned discharge pipe would carry water into the Kemijoki River. Under the EU Water Framework Directive and Finland’s national water management law, the river’s condition must not be allowed to deteriorate.

“The Commission appears to have abandoned its own sustainability criteria for strategic projects, and the Finnish government is also unconcerned by the harmful environmental effects of mines,” association chair Hanna Halmeenpää said in a statement. She said the government had not raised objections with the Commission, even over projects she described as especially damaging to nature, including Sakatti and Sokli.

A mine is planned at Sakatti in Sodankylä, partly on an aapa mire protected under the Natura conservation network.