Kingsrose wins permit to explore beside Lapland Natura bog

Mining company Kingsrose Exploration has received a permit to explore for minerals beside a protected Natura area in Finnish Lapland, Yle reports. The Penikat Eraus exploration area lies outside the protected zone, where most of the deposits the company is targeting are located.

The deposits on the border between Keminmaa and Simo include palladium, platinum, rhodium, gold, nickel and copper. The Finnish Safety and Chemicals Agency, known as Tukes, granted the permit in October and also issued a limited authorisation allowing exploration to begin even if the decision is appealed. Appeals against both decisions can be filed until 20 November.

Kingsrose had previously sought permission to explore at Ala-Penikka, inside the Martimoaapa-Lumiaapa-Penikat Natura area and peatland protection zone. Tukes granted a permit for that area in 2024, along with an exemption from the Environment Ministry. The permit was appealed and later annulled by the Northern Finland Administrative Court, which sent it back to Tukes. The case is now before the Supreme Administrative Court.

The administrative court said Tukes had made a procedural error by not publishing notice of the permit in a newspaper. It also found that the decision was not sufficiently clear, that protections for an endangered bird had not been adequately considered, that sensitive areas identified in the Natura assessment had not been properly excluded, and that the 15,000-euro guarantee had not been adequately assessed. The court nevertheless considered the Natura assessment and other studies comprehensive.

Tukes has disputed the court’s reasoning. It said newspaper notice was not required, the permit conditions were clear, and protections for the endangered bird and sensitive areas were covered by the law and permit conditions. The agency said it had assessed the guarantee using observations and experience from exploration areas, and that 15,000 euros is the standard amount for nature and peatland protection areas and Natura sites.

The Environment Ministry’s exemption for exploration inside the peatland protection zone has expired because the related exploration permit did not become legally valid. Kingsrose chief executive Andy Caruso said the company plans to apply for a new exemption after Parliament has considered a bill proposing to transfer responsibility for granting such exemptions from the ministry to Metsähallitus.

Kingsrose has six exploration permit applications in the Penikat area. The company said it separated the Penikat Eraus application from the one covering protected land to show authorities and the wider community that it could carry out a drilling programme in line with Finnish expectations.