MineFacts: Building the social license to operate by offering facts on exploration and mining

The MineFacts project was built around the clear need for easily accessible, objective and general fact based information on prospecting and mining operations. The need was based on the information gathered from over 30 different municipalities affected by exploration and mining companies working in their areas: Lapland in Finland, Norrbotten and Västerbotten in Sweden and Finnmark in Norway. In this area the project group, which consisted of experts from national geological surveys (GTK, SGU), universities (LTU, UoL), municipalities (Sodankylä) and industry (Boliden, AA Sakatti Mining Oy, Nussir ASA), presented information about exploration and mining and discussed with the municipalities about what kind of information they need. The reality is that often people oppose mining due to lack of information and even more so lack of understandable information and facts about mining. The deliverable of the project was an easily understandable information package in four languages (Finnish, Swedish, Norwegian and English) for the use of the municipalities. The package was presented in municipality meetings to inform people about mining industry and enhance trust. The information package is available to anyone without any restrictions but particularly it is aimed for the use of municipalities and regions affected by mining operations to enable them to make informed decisions about land-use, economic factors etc.