Sydvaranger ESIA

We worked collaboratively with the client and their local environmental and social specialists to provide a robust ESIA and resulting documentation to demonstrate the environmental and social viability of the project and to assist project financing to restart the mine.

Challenge

The client required a consulting firm with international mining experience and specific knowledge of European Union ESIA requirements. Numerous technical studies over a significant time period had been completed by various contributing consultants and specialists; they needed to be reviewed and consolidated into one coherent and consistent report with a standardised approach to impact assessment. The remote Arctic setting of the mine, along with long operating history and multifaceted socio-cultural dynamics, presented SLR with a complex set of challenges to understand in order to effectively assess the materiality of potential impacts. The aim of SLR’s work was to provide stakeholders with a comprehensive view of the E&S impacts associated with re-opening the mine, along with demonstrating the commitment of the company to manage the identified risks through detailed mitigation measures.

Solution

SLR was selected on the basis of our broad international ESIA experience, specific knowledge of EU regulation and understanding of the challenges of operating in Nordic environments, alongside our ability to pull a team together quickly and accommodate the compressed time schedule. We performed a variety of roles for specific subject areas depending on the level of study completed. This included detailed review, consultation and engagement with technical specialists, and generating new impact assessments across environmental and social aspects. Our One Team culture supported our teams working across technical disciplines to find the right expertise to ensure the work was completed to the highest possible standard. We collaborated closely with the client and their local environmental and social specialists engaged to complete baseline studies to ensure clear communication remained throughout the process.

Impact

The resulting impact assessment provides the first comprehensive view of the environmental and social risks and impacts associated with restarting the Sydvaranger mine. It has been well received by the client and their stakeholders, and has also helped the client to understand their future potential impacts in more detail. This has been particularly helpful to understand the interlinked nature of impacts, and therefore create clear mitigation measures to ensure complex impacts are tackled simultaneously and efficiently.

“I am very proud of the extensive work our team, together with SLR and other experts, has put into the ESIA. It forms the basis for a new sustainable era in Sydvaranger’s history.”

Christer Lindqvist, CEO of Grangex