In a village in Hörby, a few miles outside Österlen in Skåne, Otto Millbourn and his brother own some land. There, the British company Scandivanadium has now started to test drill.
- It doesn't feel like anything special, the sample drilling itself is a fairly small area they are working on and they do not disturb us very much, says Otto Millbourn.
In 2018, the agency Bergsstaten received 676 appeals against the decision to grant investigation permits to operators and companies. More than half of them apply to Skåne.
"At least you have delayed it all"Margareta Torkildsen is against both mines and test drilling in Hörby.
- Anyone who has leased their land has a great responsibility. Because if you do not give permission to test drill on your land then you have at least delayed it all.
Otto Millbourn thinks it is a moral duty to give up his land for test drilling.
- It is vanadium they are looking for here, but you can find out everything about the bedrock in connection with this. Maybe we can find minerals that can cure cancer here. Should we be against it then?
"Is the borehole monitored around the clock?"But neighbors in the village have appealed, and on Facebook, the drilling has led to discussions where the brothers have been identified as cheaters who let the company into their land.
In a comment it says:
“Is the borehole monitored around the clock? What if someone spans fast-setting cement? ”Writes another.
Otto Millbourn says they feel hostility from others in the area.
- We follow the law and do as the law says we should do. Still, then people think that we would not have accepted this. Of course, we could have appealed, but why then? It had cost us energy and time and it had cost the taxpayers a lot of money for the result had still been the same.