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Many countries, including Finland, have decided to construct more nuclear power plants because of the global warming. They will need uranium, and its price has rose. There is a new uranium exploration boom going on.
Finland has several promising uranium showings. It is also a politically and economically stable country with good infrastructure, and basic geodata, attracting foreign companies to explore uranium. However, this produced a strong campaign against it.
When foreign companies came to Finland and applied for claim reservations and claims, local people were not previously contacted and informed on such. When they get aware of them, the lack of information caused fear, and local resistance. Environmental activists and political leaders channeled this insatisfaction to local, organized movements. Media started to follow them and gives much attention on uranium exploration, many times based on false information. Anti-uranium movements formed in north-eastern, eastern and southern, but not in central Finland. They formed a nation-wide coalition, identified with the anti-nuclear movement, Green Party, and Finnish and international environmental NGOs. They received also adhesion of former anti-conservationist sectors, such as landowners, local politicians, and entrepreneurs. The uranium exploration boom and strong movement against it surprised the Ministry of Trade and Industry, which found itself in a completely new situation, and with a controversial role on the issue. This has caused more confusion and misinformation both in the mining industry and NGOs.
The weak public awareness on geology and exploration is one of the causes for this situation. There is lot of confusion on what are soil, bedrock, uranium, ore, claim reservation, claim, and mine. They are all mixed and there is a belief that exploration will automatically produce a huge open pit, that destroy everything around it, causing radiation and polluting groundwater. The movement wishes to stop exploration activities, and does not know that only 1 of 1000 exploration campaigns can lead to a mine.
How to deal with this situation? The key-word is openess. Local communities should be informed about the exploration activities. Many times the residents do not know, that they live in a uranium-bearing area, and they should be informed about it. NGOs can be called for a discussion, opening a channel for dialogue. Local newspapers should be also informed by interviews. In all these contacts, information on geology and mining industry should be given. Companies can support local initiatives on eco/geotourism. Exploration activities and claim applications should be avoided in densely populated and nature conservation areas.
Much expectation is deposited on reform of the Mining Act, which should be a compromise between the requirements presented by the industry and environmentalists. However, all those difficulties can also made Finland unattractive for new mining investments.
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