Sweden’s first new mine in ten years opens in Vindelgransele: “There is gold worth a billion in the area”

Sweden’s first new mine in ten years is now being put into operation in Fäbodtjärn outside Vindelgransele in Lycksele municipality.

– The whole process has taken about fifteen years and now we are happy that we can finally start mining the gold ore, says Fredrik Bergsten, CEO of Botnia Exploration.

The Nature Conservation Society critical

The Nature Conservation Society in Lycksele municipality has criticized the development of the area and pointed to the sensitive nature along the Vindelälven. The mining area is a couple of kilometers from the Vindelälven and the environmental requirements have been extensive.

– Our project has been appealed in rounds and has been all the way to the Supreme Court, but we have always been careful to follow and fulfill all environmental requirements in close cooperation with the county administrative board and the Sami village, says Fredrik Bergsten.

High gold price

There will be about fifteen jobs in the mine itself and another ten jobs around. The mining is expected to last for about three years.

It will be Dragon Mining’s enrichment plant in the Svartliden mine in Pauträsk, which will enrich the ore from Fäbodtjärn.

Right now, the gold price is at record levels, around SEK 800 per gram, and the company believes that there is even more gold in the area than is intended to be mined in the first place.

– We are of course happy that the price of gold is high, and that makes our investment even more exciting. We have drilled several boreholes and found signs of new deposits, so the hope is that we will be able to extract even more gold than we initially planned, says Fredrik Bergsten.