The mine is located in a sensitive natural area at Stöttingfjället and tough environmental requirements are set for the company to be allowed to expand its mining.
- We have a fantastic environment, silence and untouched nature and I would like to keep it, but I also understand that mining can provide jobs and life for the area and therefore it is difficult to decide, says Maria Staaf who has her roots and his summer cottage in the village Fäbodliden.
Wants to mine 500,000 tons per year
Dragon Mining bought the permit for mining the bankrupt Lappland Goldminers about seven years ago.
The price was SEK 40 million and during a test mining, gold for SEK 50 million was found and there is even more gold in the vein for which Dragon Mining is now applying for an environmental permit.
The company plans to mine about 500,000 tons per year.
Josh Stewart, who is the project manager for the mine in Fäbodliden, does not want to comment before the negotiations that are currently underway in the Land and Environmental Court are completed, but hope to get his application through.
The County Administrative Board sets requirements
The County Administrative Board, which is the supervisory authority, has set requirements for how the toxic metals that emerge during mining are to be handled, but the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation believes that the company wants to circumvent several of the requirements in its application.
- I have read their motivations and think that a lot is wrong and unscientific so I hope that the requirements that the county administrative board has set really go through, says Torgny Forsgren who works for the Nature Conservation Association in Lycksele.
See photos from the mining area and hear more voices in the clip above.