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Arctic Yearbook 2014
“Trust is the main thing. If there is no trust between the company and people, living in the
towns, nothing good will come out. It is not possible for the company to possess trust if
we (the company) don’t speak about social problems and don’t solve them. It is absolutely
important to have locally attached leadership of the company, the leaders who was
brought up here, who love, respect and understand the place”.
These events strongly influenced public attitudes towards the company and have lowered the
SLO level. During the last years it decreased, and as of today we estimate it as “approval”, or even as
the lower “acceptance” level.
The second case is the new “North-Western Phosphorous Company” Ltd. It was founded in 2005
as a subsidiary company of JSC “Acron”, a large fertilizer manufacturer and consumer of apatite
concentrate in Russia. “Acron” previously consumed the concentrate from “Apatit” and, due to the
monopolistic position of the latter on the Russian market, had contradictions with “Apatit” concerning
the prices for the concentrate. “Acron” has created the NWFC to ensure its own source of raw
material. In October 2006, NWPC won a contest for acquiring the state mining permit to develop two
new deposits of apatite-nepheline ore “Olenyi ruchei” and “Partamchorr”. In 2007 the
construction of the mine and processing plant at “Olenyi ruchei” deposit for production of the
apatite concentrate began. In 2012 their exploitation was started (Bay-Larsen et al., 2014). Today
NWPC employs about 2000 people, of which more than half live in the city of Apatity.
Implementation of the new project caused serious conflicts between several interest groups.
Firstly, was the conflict between “Apatit” company and the newly appeared NWPC, since they
became direct competitors for the production and supply of apatite concentrate in Russia.
Moreover, the new competitor has started to use the ore deposits which “Apatit” considered its
own prospective reserves. Secondly, initiation of the construction of the mine and the new ore
processing factory caused a conflict with environmental NGOs since the deposits and processing
plant were located in close proximity to the “Khibiny” National Park, which is planned to open
in 2015.
In spite of the conflicts, the implementation of the new mining project was actively supported by
the government of the Murmansk region. The support was provided mainly due to large
investments (around 1 billion USD) on the territory of the region and expectations for the
additional tax revenues to the regional budget. It was also supposed that implementation of the
project would provide benefits to the Kirovsk municipality: Additional working places for the
locals (along with the weakening almost monopolistic position of the “Apatit” company as an
employer in the local labour market) and good prospects for the revival of the formerly
depressed rural settlement Koashva situated in the vicinity of the newly developed deposits (BayLarsen et al. 2014).
There are many examples of the social activities of NWPC, such as investing in the
reconstruction of several municipal social objects, in particular on the territory of Koashva
settlement – renovation of the house of culture and the first-aid station, establishing of the youth
center, a children’s playground, and others. However, dissatisfaction with the social and
environmental aspects of the new company’s behavior was one of the main themes in the
interviews. As the interviews with employees of the company revealed, they are not satisfied with
the social policy of the company first of all towards its own employees. As an example they
mentioned the recent canceling of quarterly monetary premiums that notably decreased the level
Social License to Operate for Mining Companies in the Russian Arctic