Social license to mine in Sweden: do companies go the extra mile to gain community acceptance?

This paper investigates certain aspects of what mining and exploration companies do to obtain a social license to operate (SLO) by studying choices made by companies when applying for a mining concession in Sweden. Evidence is provided of well-established mining companies having done no more than is strictly necessary to obtain their concessions. Examples of the opposite are also provided, where relatively newly established mining and exploration companies have done more than is legally required, in apparent attempts to obtain stakeholder support. The apparent disinterest by established mining companies to “do more” is considered, as is the effectiveness of the more newly established mining and exploration companies’ approaches. It is shown that the established mining firms, after a long history of mining, appear to have gained social and community acceptance. Conversely, in spite of the attempts made by the newly established firms to “do more”, their project are much more often being met with resistance and distrust by stakeholders. In spite of the apparent success of the approach taken by the established mining firms, there are indications that they are now being influenced by international developments in the mining sector, which calls on companies to work harder on issues related to corporate social responsibility (CSR) and in ensuring their SLO. It is argued that such developments may become problematic, as these concepts have largely been developed within an Anglo-American, neoliberal model of development and may therefore need to be modified to fit in a Nordic, welfare state based context. © 2014, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.