Report: District Metals — Sweden Lifts Uranium Ban, Establishes Viken as Large European Resource

While it was widely expected, it is good to see the Swedish parliament officially lifted the ban on uranium mining and exploration last week. This means that projects that were predominantly moose pasture up until a week ago are suddenly viable uranium exploration prospects.

And that puts District Metals (DMX.V) in an excellent position to capitalize on the renewed interest in uranium in Sweden. Not only does it fully own the flagship Viken project which hosts almost 1.7 billion pounds of uranium, District also picked up early-stage exploration assets that are prospective for uranium mineralization based on historical data.

Officially lifting the uranium exploration and mining ban in the country is a first step but a very important step. Not only will this allow District Metals to unlock value at Viken, it also establishes Sweden as a potential major Uranium powerhouse that could supply the majority (if not all) of the EU’s uranium requirements.

We sat down with Garrett Ainsworth, CEO of District Metals

We had a chat with Garrett Ainsworth to discuss these recent developments.

Lifting the moratorium

While it was widely anticipated, the vote to lift the ban on uranium mining and exploration resulted in a very narrow win. Are you relieved?

The vote was expected to be a very narrow win, but we are pleased that the Swedish Government did what they said they were going to do, which is not always the case when it comes to politics.

Although the Proposal to lift the ban on uranium mining in Sweden was close, it is very significant that the motions by the Green and Left Parties to ban mining of Alum Shale mining was rejected by the current Government and the majority of the Opposition. 

The Social Democrats are the largest part of the Opposition, and they have gone on record that they support mining uranium as a byproduct, so the fact that they voted against the motion to ban mining of Alum Shales is very positive.  It appears that even if the Social Democrats win the election in September 2026, then they will be supportive of Alum Shale mining, and that’s of course good news for the Viken deposit

What are the next steps from a legislative point of view to get the new law ready for implementation by January 1^st?

On January 1, 2026, the Swedish Government will execute changes to the Minerals Act and Environmental Code that will allow for exploration and mining of uranium.  Uranium will be added as a concession mineral for mineral licenses. 

The section of the Environmental Code prohibiting uranium-related mining and processing will be repealed or amended so that uranium-related operations may apply for exploration and extraction licences, subject to prescribed conditions.

Technical and regulatory safeguards will remain in place, including oversight from the Swedish Radiation Safety Authority and environmental impact assessments consistent with Sweden’s high-standard permitting regime.

What is required to remove the veto right of the municipalities? According to the language, the veto would not come into play if/when uranium is a secondary raw material. How would the Viken project deal with this? And what are the next steps to remove the veto power altogether?

The Swedish Government is now working on a Proposal to make changes to the Nuclear Act that will re-classify processing of uranium ore into yellowcake from a nuclear facility to a nuclear activity.  The municipal veto is only applicable to nuclear facilities, so this proposed change will remove the municipal veto from processing of uranium ore into yellowcake.  If this Proposal makes it to the Swedish Parliament, then the vote will likely happen in Q2 2026, and if the Proposal is approved then the change to legislation would occur on July 1, 2026.

The municipal veto is not applicable to mining, so mining of the Viken Deposit and recover of vanadium, potash, molybdenum, nickel, zinc, copper, and potentially REEs could proceed without any municipal veto risk.

It should be noted that the municipal veto is a potential obstacle (not a show stopper) for the processing of uranium ore to yellowcake.  It’s possible that the State/Federal Government could/would override the municipal veto if it was applied because the current Swedish Government likely sees uranium mining as an activity of National and EU Interest, and State/Federal legislation will override municipal legislation.

The vote was rather tight (and the high absenteeism didn’t help), are you scared of the subject being brought back on the table after the elections in September 2026 if there is a shift in government?

Now that it appears the Social Democrats (Opposition to current center-right government) are supportive of Alum Shale mining and mining of uranium as a byproduct the risk of who wins the September 2026 election has substantially decreased.

The Social Democrats are mining friendly, and it’s unlikely that they would want to reverse the uranium ban.

About Viken and the other uranium projects

We are sure you’ll provide detailed plans on the Viken work program for 2026 in due course, but could you already elaborate on what’s currently on the drawing board?

From a high level and without Board approval we are looking at a likely PEA at the Viken Property.  I’d also like to see some drilling on the Viken and Alum Shale Properties.  Lastly, I’d like to do some follow up on the ground of the geophysical anomalies on all of our uranium properties in Sweden.

While all focus went to the Viken project, one would almost forget you also staked about half a dozen other properties that have the potential to host uranium mineralization. What are the plans there? Do you need/want to advance them a bit further, or could those assets be used to vend into other companies that want to capitalized on the renewed interest in Swedish Uranium?

We are the second largest holder of mineral licenses in Sweden after Boliden.  For the right price we will be open to optioning our non-core uranium properties.  In the meantime, we plan on ground follow up of the geophysical anomalies on all of our uranium properties in Sweden.  Ideally, we drill some MobileMT anomalies on our Alum Shale Properties in 2026 as well.

About Tomtebo

Now uranium mining will be allowed again and the focus will shift to Viken and the other uranium projects, what’s the plan for Tomtebo now Boliden has dropped out of the joint venture?

We don’t plan to spend any funds on Tomtebo or Gruvberget, which are base metal polymetallic properties.  In our last three financings we have been funded on the basis of our uranium properties only, so we’ll honour that going forward.

We have been actively reaching out to major mining companies to attract an option on Tomtebo or Gruvberget, and that could be a path forward for advancing those properties.

Corporate

It has been a while since your last raise; are you considering filling up the treasury on the back of the renewed interest in the Swedish Uranium sector?

We have no immediate or short term plans to finance as we have approximately C$9M in the treasury along with about C$2.7M of warrants that are way in the money.

Perhaps a strategic financing at some point makes sense, but not right now.

Conclusion

Lifting the ban on uranium mining and exploration suddenly puts Sweden on the map as a potential reliable supplier of yellowcake to satisfy at least a large portion of the demand in the European Union.

District Metals has an advanced-stage uranium asset in Sweden with a current NI43-101 compliant resource estimate. The next step for the company is to determine the economic viability of Viken, and we expect to see a Preliminary Economic Assessment in 2026.

Disclosure: The author has a long position in District Metals. District Metals is a sponsor of the website. This post is for educational purposes only; be mindful investing in junior mining stocks is risky and you may lose your entire investment if things go wrong. Please read our full disclosure.