Hard resistance to the mineral hunt: "There are no green mines"

Last year, SEK 782 million was invested in the search for minerals in Sweden. The last three years show the trend that the hunt for a particular kind of minerals has increased - those that can be used in new technology, which will help us to convert to more renewable energy.

One of these substances is vanadium, a metal with the ability to store large amounts of energy from, for example, wind power and solar panels.

It has got foreign companies to focus their eyes on Sweden - and the green spaces of the East.

- We will need more mines. And it will have to be mines with very high environmental performance and good conditions all around. And that's where I think Sweden is a great place to be, ”says Erika Ingvald, Head of Unit at Sweden's Geological Survey, SGU.

British Scandivanadium is one of the companies that wants to search, prospect, for the vanadium. They want to use it to create flow batteries for wind and solar power.

The company received permission from the Bergsstaten authority to search over 22,000 hectares in Österlen - an area as large as Stockholm. But the protests came immediately.

- We did not give up ten years ago and we will not give up now either. In fact, we want to put an end to this now and not in ten years to sit there with the next company that wants to find something, says Anita Ullman, chairman of the protest movement "Vetonu", which is against mines in Österlen.

So it's not about being too nice in Österlen for a mine because here you have apple orchards and hiking trails?

- No. I think if you think about that concept of "the Scanian mill", it's not about being nice, it's actually about people who have lived here for generations.

In the area where Scandivanadium is to search for minerals is the Monastery Mariavall. The nuns are also against a possible mine.

- Now we do not mean that "here should not be a habitat mine in Skåne, but rather put it in Jämtland or somewhere". We believe it is just as wrong to do so in Jämtland. For the same reason, says abbess Mother Christa.

Mother Christa tells us that she came to realize that the disadvantages are greater than the benefits.

- What happens when you have to dig up the vanadium, get it out, cure it? What happens to our nature then? And then to fold it against each other, then it was quite easy to come to the conclusion that any green project can not be called this.

Mother Christas and the protest movement Vetonu's biggest objection is that test drilling and a mine can pose risks to the environment. The vanadium is located in the rock slate, along with uranium, among other things. The risk, says Vetonu, is that radioactive substances are released upon quenching.

Scandivanadium CEO David Minchin does not want to be interviewed. But when Assignment Review asks the question in an e-mail about how they intended to solve the problem with uranium in the waste, he replies that you have no plan for it - but that you will solve it later.

The company has said that their ambition is to start the world's greenest open pit.

- That someone claims to want to save the world is obviously something that sounds very nice. But it is ultimately a company that wants to make money, not save the world, says Anita Ullmann from Vetonu.

The municipality of Tomelilla is also protesting. The politicians have written in their plan for the municipality's future that they "oppose all exploration, mining and quarrying of minerals and other valuable substances".

But in the heart of the Österlen, environmentalist Sven G Hultman lives. Unlike Vetonu, he sees several opportunities to open an open pit.

- Given the urgency of this, we must take every opportunity to achieve such energy storage. We need vanadium, where should we get it? We know that in a few places around the world, but these are uncertain deliveries and poor working environment conditions. So why shouldn't we take this? There is a bit of "Not In My Backyard" all over it.

At present, Scandivanadium is only authorized to prospect. In theory, out of the 600 permits issued throughout the country, half could be a mine, according to the responsible authority Bergsstaten.