Early citizen engagement is encouraged in the Mineral Activities Act. For example, there are legal requirements for digital pre-consultation and public consultation of the environmental and societal impacts of certain planned activities (EIA and VSB reports).

Citizen engagement is the opportunity for citizens to take a position on, and make contributions and comments on, mining companies’ development plans. In this context, it is important that citizens actively use their local knowledge of the environment, nature and society in an area and can contribute with this knowledge.

It is therefore essential that citizens are aware of where they can obtain information on current raw material projects. In addition, it is important that citizens are aware of the legal requirements and guidelines underlying regulatory regulation of raw material projects.

It is therefore the practice of the Environmental Agency for Mineral Resource Activities (EAMRA) to engage in dialogue with the local community on the interaction between the regulatory treatment of raw material projects and public consultation rounds, and to support the local community’s ability to formulate comments on raw material companies’ EIA reports.

The Mineral Resources Act and the Public Access to Documents Act guarantee in various ways the possibility for citizens to be involved in the processes related to raw material activities and their potential environmental impact. This is achieved, inter alia, through:

• Possibility of submitting requests for access to documents
• Public consultations at certain dividing lines in the development of a raw material activity
• Public access to raw material activity data
• Possibility to apply for funds to further investigate specific conditions of a raw material activity