More than six out of 10 respondents (62%) aged between 18 and 79 said the Swedish mining industry should be allowed to develop to secure the supply of critical minerals, a 10% increase on 2019, when the SGU last ran the same survey.

Almost half (49%) could see themselves accepting an active mine in their vicinity, while almost seven out of ten people (68 %) think that the Swedish mining industry is important for the creation of new jobs.

"The attitudes to the mining industry have improved in the last three years. …This is in line with the fact that as a society, we are starting to realise that we depend on other countries for our raw materials. There is also an increased understanding that we need to extract more metals and minerals to achieve the green transition," said SGU director general Anneli Wirtén.

Unsurprisingly, seven out of ten (69%) said there is a conflict between the mining industry and the environment. However four out of ten (44 %) stated that the mining industry is important for the reduction of negative climate impact, and only one in 10 said mining as of little or no importance for the transition.

"This is very positive for the continued development of Swedish mining and for securing our supply of raw materials. Not least because interest in the mining industry and the availability of skilled employees is vital for the success of the industry," said Wirtén.

Sweden is an important mining nation in Europe and produces more than 90% of all iron ore in Europe, but also a range of other metals such as zinc, lead and precious metals.

However, the Swedish mining cluster only makes up 3% of the annual Swedish GDP . It supports between 100,000-125,000 jobs and around 8% of the total Swedish exports.

Highlighting the mixture of perceptions on mining, while 27% think it should be easier to start mines in Sweden, a similar amount (23%) think it should be more difficult.

"Mining will always have an impact on the environment. The Swedish environmental legislation is strong and provides a good framework for minimising the local environmental consequences. And the raw materials extracted are necessary for the technology we need for the reduction of global climate emissions, " added Wirtén.

The overall positive results echo those of a major EU study on public perceptions of mining held in 2019-2020, in which a majority of respondents from seven language groups said mining benefits communities and societies. 

That study found that across seven countries, respondents thought that mining benefits society more than it benefits communities.

The organisers of that survey said it was distributed to a wide range of individuals: academics, public officials, representatives from NGOs, industry representatives, students, and members of communities near mines.

However, the results were often skewed as in the German and Spanish language surveys, a large number of the respondents were university students involved in mining.

A more useful statistic from that survey is that across all language groups, nearly all respondents said ensuring responsible mining - and improving government capacity to regulate mining- were both ranked "very important".