S
D E S O P M I R UPE JOHNSR HANNE
UD
S U P E R I M P O S E D
Kautokeino
F i e l d s o f e x p l o r a t i o n : in the demands for a mineral strategy of the north, northern Norway is portrayed as unchartered territory, where enormous riches await those ready to venture into the underground. Already established rights and extensive land uses are under pressure as we open for a new negotiation of the limits of exploitation. Investigating the spatial narratives of the northernmost areas of Norway, I travel across the Finnmark plateau and Varanger onboard Google Earth and the satellite images show a landscape formed by geological histories and hardly visibly marked by human activity.
Web of reindeer husbandry: pasture areas, administrative districts, fences, herding routes, tent areas and hearding cabins. Following the lines of the terrain and adjusted to national borders and infrastructure
Kautokeino
Grid of mineral exploration rights: each area can be max 10km2, a square rectangle, parallell to the UTM map EUREF89. Longest side no longer than 10km and shortest side no shorter than 1 km. There are no limits to the number of exploration areas
The images reveal nothing of the territorial histories of Norway as a nation state or its once heavily guarded border to neighbouring USSR. Neither do they reveal the productive landscapes of indigenous animal husbandry, nor the vast watersheds of the Alta and Tana rivers. Yet, these areas are covered by an intricate web of borderlines and spatial narratives. Over time, the land uses and rights of resources have been c a r e f u l l y n e g o t i a t e d . The lines regulating the reindeer herding industry can be read as a narrative of the natural landscape; the vegetation and pasture conditions in summer and winter; where the herd can cross a river; the outline of lakes and landforms. These naturally formed borderlines have been altered by national border divisions, lines of infrastructure, settlements and other land uses. Continuous pressure from competing land uses has made this vulnerable arctic landscape into a tense, extensively productive and highly regulated territory. In contrast to this slow undulating process of negotiation, with the landscape, the vegetation, traditional lifestyles, new industries and modern infrastructure, n e w b o r d e r l i n e s a r e n o w f o r m i n g in the high north, superimposed on the landscape and related to geological resources below the surface. The grid of exploration rights echoes the borderlines drawn on maps of former colonial empires.
Preparing a mineral strategy conquest of the north
for
While Norway has explored oil and gas potentials in the north, Finland and Sweden has mapped their mineral resources. As marked prices of metals and rare earth minerals skyrocket, the Norwegian mining industry argues for the need of a mineral strategy along the line of these countries. The Finnish strategy recognises the challenge of competing land uses and calls for a p r i o r i t i s a t i o n of extensive mineral exploitation. Both the Finnish and Swedish strategy calls for s i m p l i f i e d p r o c e s s e s and regulations concerning mining concessions. In Norway, the new mining law of 2009 brought simplified procedures for mineral exploration and by 2010, 23 companies had been granted searching rights in Finnmark alone. In February 2012, the Canadian exploration company Dalradian Resources secured exploration rights of 11.000 km2 in northern Norway. The Norwegian mining industry has called for predictability for i n v e s t o r s , with less insecurity concerning indigenous issues, and ensuring a geological mapping before any areas are earmarked or protected. And to ensure similar conditions for the companies, the industry asks that the responsibility of impact assessments of mining is moved from the municipalities to the directorate of mining. The argument is that the cases are too complex for the municipalities to handle. The geopolitical positioning of Norway has moved from a matter of securing national sovereignty, to the establishment of cooperation in a Barents perspective and securing access to untapped resources. In a global economy, this means developing competences and a political framework to meet a r a c e o f c o m p a n i e s r a t h e r t h a n o f c o u n t r i e s . The government has granted 100 Mill. NOK for mineral mapping in the north and new potentials are uncovered and a whole new (sub-) terrain is revealed as the geochemical maps are published.
Minerals are categorised “of national interests” or “of national significance”, and “the nations’ need for minerals” is legitimising the reservation of exploration rights for large private companies, the opening for renegotiation of already granted rights and the r e m o v a l o f r e s p o n s i b i l i t y a n d c o n t r o l of the impacts assessments from local political control.
Vadsø Kirkenes
Hammerfest
Lakselv
Superimposed spatial narratives From a satellite perspective, it seems that in these large territories we should be able to afford some damages and take our part of the burden of mining. After all, we do want our mobile phones and batteries. The world needs minerals, and so we are silenced in the encounter with the economic and consumerist values presented to us by the same industry that reaps the benefits. There is a long way from exploration rights to operative mining. The mineral concessions map however, carries an understanding of rights, rights that justify private company investment in exploration because they expect future revenues from mining. The satellite images do not show the multiple and overlapping spatial narratives of this landscape, and as lines are drawn on the map, t h e f i e l d for negotiation is altered step by s t e p , undermining our understanding of what are already existing rights and agreements, and a new map of northern Norway is formed. Borders in our head are shifting and so are the limits of exploitation.
Alta
Karasjok
Kautokeino
S ou rces: Bergrettighetsregisteret, Direktoratet for mineralforvaltning med Bergmesteren for Svalbard. http://www.ngu.no/kart/bergrettigheter, visited 7.3.2012 Boyd, Rognvald, Mineral- og metallressurser in Norge: potensial og strategisk betydning, NGU, Trondheim 2011 Google Earth, Data SIO, NOAA U.S. Navy, NGA, GEBCO, 2012 Terra Metrics Norsk Bergindustri, Mineralske råstoffer som mulighet – Behovet for en mineralstrategi i Norge. http://www.norskbergindustri.no/omnorsk-bergindustri/_attachment/72731?amp;download=true NæringsRapport Nr. 2-2010, Tromsø 2010, http://nrapp.no/pdf/ nrapp_1002.pdf Reindriftsforvaltningen kart.reindrift.no/reinkart/ visited7.3.2012