In Kiruna, northern Sweden, the planned Per Geijer mine threatens the last free migration route of the Gabna Sámi’s reindeer. The state-owned company LKAB wants to tap one of Europe’s largest rare earth deposits, a project hailed in Brussels as vital for the green transition. For Brussels, it is a strategic coup: securing minerals vital for wind turbines, electric cars and military technology. For the herders, it threatens the land and traditions that have sustained their culture for centuries. The loss of reindeer also threatens the balance of the Arctic ecosystem.
Per Geijer is only one example of a much wider trend. Across Sápmi, new projects for iron, copper, gold and rare earths overlap with reindeer pastures, forests and rivers. Promoted as necessary for climate action and geopolitical security, they repeat an older pattern: wealth flowing south, while Indigenous communities carry the costs of displacement, land loss, cultural erosion and ecological disruption. The project asks whether Europe’s drive for raw materials can be reconciled with justice for the Sámi, or whether the “green” transition will deepen a colonial legacy in its own north.
On the right: Reindeer gather in a corral in the mountains above Rensjön, Sweden, on Sept. 14, 2025, as the Gabna Sami community marks unbranded calves and selects bulls for slaughter. Photograph by Nathalie Bertrams.
