Press release from Gabna Indigenous reindeer herding community
Swedish state-owned mining company Luossavaara-Kiirunavaara Aktiebolag (LKAB) aims to produce conflict minerals on Indigenous land without consent. "That is not collaboration," states Indigenous reindeer herding community Gabna as they cancel their cooperation agreement with LKAB.
The reindeer herders of Gabna community do not see any real cooperation in the agreement from LKAB. Gabna are now terminating the agreement. The agreement entails confidentiality clausuls that mean nothing can be released about what the mining company has said or how they have handled disagreements with Gabna.
"Looking back, we lack any meaningful compensation for the reindeer grazing lands we have lost, as well as sacred places and other land lost. LKAB have compensated zero square meters of destroyed reindeer grazing land," says Gabna’s chairman Lars-Marcus Kuhmunen and continues:
"As we look ahead, we see no possible future with the Per Geijer mine. Our no to this mine is definite. There is no cooperation agreement or compensation that can remedy the collapse of our culture and reindeer husbandry if Per Geijer is opened."
Per Geijer is a mining project granted status as strategic project according to EU's Critical Raw Material Act (CRMA). Coexistence between Gabna and Per Geijer is impossible. The cooperation agreement acts as a front, according to the community board, as they now terminate the agreement in protest.
"We simply do not see the point of an agreement which is mainly making it easier for LKAB to get their own way. The 'consultations' are a spectacle where our community gets to speak, but we never have real influence or the necessary resources," says Gabna chairman Lars-Marcus Kuhmunen.
The community believes that Swedish mineral legislation is designed to guarantee that mining companies always get their way. This makes it impossible for real dialogue where the Indigenous community’s "no" is taken into account. Swedish legislation on this lags far behind other countries such as Canada and Australia.
"Sweden continues to treat Europe's only Indigenous people as an organization among others," says Gabna's spokesperson on mining issues Karin K Niia, who continues:
"We see the lands poisoned, the air filled with dust and the foundation of Indigenous Sámi life disappear, and this is what they call "cooperation."
The Gabna community have repeatedly expressed that their lands will be cut in two and traditional reindeer herding will be made impossible if the mine Per Geijer is to open, but LKAB continues as if the mine has already been approved.
This backdrop seems to show LKAB aiming for a colonial power structure where Sámi lands are seen as an unlimited raw material buffer for European industries.
Gabna is now terminating the cooperation agreement with a strong message:
“This is not cooperation. It is state-sanctioned land grabbing on Indigenous territory in a country that likes to call itself the world's most progressive in terms of protecting human rights. This cooperation agreement comes to an end now.”
Giron, December 1, 2025
Gabna Sameby (Gabna Sámi reindeer herding community)
Contact person:
Chairman Lars-Marcus Kuhmunen, tel. +46 70-250 39 57
Photo by Hugo Verweij.
