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• The story of three teachers

The story of three teachers in Lycksele

The story of the company Lappland Goldminers can be followed 15 years back in time. But the events that sowed the seeds for today's operations, had already happened at the beginning of the 1970's. That was when there were the first signs of gold outside Lycksele. It was the Geological Survey of Sweden ("SGU") that found gold in the region at that time. The first discovery was followed up with panning in the rivers around Lycksele and then the dream became a reality. There was gold. It had been deposited there by ice and water. The question that everyone asked was "how can the source be found?".

Torbjörn Grahn, who later became Managing Director of Lappland Goldminers, worked at that time for the SGU, and his uncle Bengt was with him when the first discovery was made in 1973. Torbjörn became very interested, and engaged himself in the search for gold.

It was unusual to find gold in Lappland, so the discovery caused a great deal of excitement among prospectors. Among others, Jan-Åke Unée and Eric Sjölund from Lycksele became interested in the gold. At the beginning they worked for themselves, but then they heard about each other and realised they should work together. At that time they had no idea about that a number of years later they would establish the company Lappland Goldminers AB. It was not only enthusiasts who found themselves there. Both Swedish and foreign companies began to involve themselves in the search, including Volvo and American Barrick.

For many years, the three teachers dedicated a lot of time for the search of gold. For a short while in the 1980's they all worked as teachers, using their summer breaks for exploration work. In 1988, when gold hunting began to take more and more time, they created the company Lappland Mineral HB, and used the company as a platform for continued work. In 1995, Torbjörn Grahn left his teaching job and devoted himself to the gold hunt full-time. The year after, Jan-Åke and Eric did the same.

However searching for gold is costly and demanding, and contrary to what one may first believe, not for fortune hunters. It is a systematic, time-consuming, and laborious undertaking, which takes a good number of years, and a good degree of determination, before one sees a return. The three had to dedicate a great deal of time to forest work, to finance the costs of analysis and other costs associated with the exploration activities.

Together they made several interesting discoveries, and found various partners. The operations grew and it became necessary to separate the different exploration projects. Therefore Torbjörn, Jan-Åke and Eric created company Lappland Guldprospektering AB. Fäboliden and Sandviksträsket projects were held in Lappland Mineral HB, while other gold discoveries, e.g. Stortjärnhobben, was held in Lappland Guldprospektering AB.

The deposit at Fäboliden has since then developed in a very positive way. In order to take in more necessary financing, the company Lappland Guldprospektering AB was turned into a limited liability company, Lappland Goldminers AB, in 1997. The need for capital continued to increase and several new share issues were made, in order to finance various drilling programs to prove mineral resources needed for a major gold mining project.

Now, 30 years after the first gold discovery, and more than 15 years of exploration work, the results are beginning to be discernible. Finding the source of the gold has been the guiding star, through good times and bad, during systematic and painstaking exploration work. Now the first commercial mining is within reach first at Svartliden (2004) and at Fäboliden mining will most probably be started up in 2008/9.

It is not only at Fäboliden where there is great potential for gold. The founders of Lappland Goldminers have also found gold at Svartliden. The Australian mining company Dragon Mining is ready to start mining there at the end of 2004. Sweden is well on its way of getting a new gold field. Aftonbladet's news bill is from 1997, when the extent of the discovery at Svartliden became evident.