The making of mining expectations: mining romanticism and historical memory in a neoliberal political landscape

ABSTRACT

This paper investigates a greenfield mining project in a peripheral region in northern Sweden through the analysis of how different actor groups formed their own ‘horizons of expectations’ that temporally became fused, only to crumble together with the mining company in a short period of time. By focusing on the co-evolvement of expectations, we show how expectations are differentiated along geographical and temporal scales, reflect upon how these differences relate to interests and historical memory, and finally what these differences mean for the development of large-scale, long-term, raw materials-based projects devoted to industrial production in depopulating areas in an economy otherwise orientated towards neoliberal governance and post-industrial development. By doing so, we make a theoretical contribution to the literature on expectations through the introduction of the concept ‘horizon of expectations’, and a contribution to the literature on neoliberalism and its cultural-geographical implications.

Résumé

Cet article enquête sur un projet d’exploitation minière sur un terrain vierge dans une région périphérique dans le nord de la Suède à travers les analyses de la façon dont différents groupes d’acteurs ont formé leurs propres « horizons d’attente » qui sont devenus soudés temporairement pour s’effondrer ensemble en même temps que la société minière dans un bref délai de temps. En nous concentrant sur la coévolution des attentes, nous montrons comment les attentes sont différenciées sur des échelles géographiques et temporelles, nous analysons comment ces différences se situent par rapport aux intérêts et à la mémoire historique et enfin, ce que ces différences signifient pour le développement de projets de grande envergure à long terme basés sur des matières premières et dédiés à la production industrielle dans des zones dépeuplées dans une économie tournée par ailleurs vers la gouvernance néolibérale et le développement post-industriel. Ce faisant, nous faisons une contribution théorique à la recherche sur les attentes à travers l’introduction du concept d’«horizons d’attente » et une contribution à la recherche sur le néolibéralisme et ses implications géographiques et culturelles.

Resumen

Este trabajo investiga un proyecto de minería en un terreno no urbanizado en una región periférica en el norte de Suecia a través del análisis de cómo diferentes grupos de actores formaron sus propios ‘horizontes de expectativas’ que se fusionaron temporalmente, sólo para desmoronarse junto con la compañía minera en un corto período de tiempo. Al enfocarse en la co-evolución de las expectativas, se muestra cómo las expectativas se diferencian a lo largo de las escalas geográficas y temporales, se reflexiona sobre cómo estas diferencias se relacionan con los intereses y la memoria histórica, y finalmente qué significan estas diferencias para el desarrollo de grandes proyectos de larga duración y basados en materias primas, dedicados a la producción industrial en áreas despobladas en una economía de lo contrario orientada hacia la gobernabilidad neoliberal y el desarrollo postindustrial. De esta manera, se realiza una contribución teórica a la literatura sobre las expectativas mediante la introducción del concepto de ‘horizonte de expectativas’ y una contribución a la literatura sobre neoliberalismo y sus implicaciones culturales-geográficas.

KEYWORDS:

• Mining policy
• expectations
• re-industrialization
• neoliberalism
• natural resources
• regional development
• industrial policy

Mots clés:

• politique d’exploitation minière 
• attentes
• ré-industrialisation
• néolibéralisme
• ressources naturelles
• politiques industrielles

Palabras clave:

• política minera
• expectativas
• reindustrialización
• neoliberalismo
• recursos naturales
• política industrial

Notes

1. In parallel, Northland Resources planned to tap into the sister deposit in Kolari on the Finnish side of the border, by reopening the Hannukainen mine that had closed 1998 (see Heikkinen, Lépy, Sarkki, & Komu, 2016; Van Dam, Scheepstra, Gille, Stępień, & Koivurova, 2014). The project was still in its planning phase when Northland Resources declared bankruptcy in 2014.

2. For those interested in further discussion of agency and the relation between human cognition and material affordance, we suggest Ingold (2000), and Ingold & Howes (2011).

3. This is also the reason we prefer the concept of different horizons of expectations becoming temporally fused over Harner’s (2001) related idea of ‘means and meaning’ being aligned, given the close relation between his idea and the concept of hegemony, i.e. the active and deliberate imposition of one interpretation over another.

4. By interests, we mean everything from economic and political considerations of elected politicians, through the dreams and hopes of a decent life of local inhabitants, to the need for financial analysts of adhering to the double logics of the stock market and mass media.

5. A greenfield mining project is the development of a previously untapped ore deposit into production state. It entails large capital costs for the construction of the new mine, and is therefore generally considered much riskier, in financial terms, than brownfield mining, i.e. the development/expansion of established mining operations.

6. The Torne Valley, where both Pajala and Kiruna are located, is the valley of the Torne River.

7. A parallel case is the Talvivaara nickel mine in neighbouring Finland. The owning company went bankrupt in 2014, at a time when serious environmental problems had been discovered in relation to the mining operations, something that has brought legal action against several members of the former management. In 2015, the Finnish state assumed control of the mine through a newly formed company created solely for the purpose. The stated intent at the time was to continue mining operations, but in 2016, the Finnish state instead announced the mine would be shut down.

8. After the company bankruptcy, SEK 680 million had been paid out (ÅF Infraplan, 2014).

9. In total, at the time of the bankruptcy, it is estimated that investments in the project amounted to SEK 10 billion, out of which almost eight were made by Northland Resources, largely through loans that they were forced to default on. The state invested around SEK 680 million in the unfinished road. Individual private investors, both foreign and Swedish, lost all their money, as did the group of large investors that attempted to save Northland Resources during 2013 and 2014. Canadian investors have initiated a legal process against the former management of Northland Resources on behalf of shareholders, claiming information about the liquidity problems was deliberately and unlawfully withheld from the public (ÅF Infraplan, 2014; Forsberg, 2015).

10. In 2014, the liberal–conservative government in power since 2006 was replaced with a Social Democrat–Green Party minority government. There is no discernible difference in the stance towards the bankrupt mine between the two governments.

11. Which is not to say, of course, that we believe power relations were totally absent here (how could they be?) However, such relations, just as links of causality, must lie outside the scope of the present analysis, since they would entail an entirely different research method.