The valuation of a mine – values, facts and contested notions of sustainability in the prospecting for new mines

Figures & data

Table 1. Orders of worth and forms of justification.

Orders of worth	Market	Industrial	Civic	Green	Domestic	Inspired
Higher common principal	Competition, (expansion)	Efficiency (speeding up)	Civic duty	Greenness (non-anthropocentric)	Tradition, (continuity)	Inspiration (serenity)
Mode of evaluating worth	Price, profitability	Productivity, efficiency	Collective interest, the verdict of the vote	Ecological sustainability	Trust	Resonance, creativity
Form of relevant proof	Monetary value, prices, benefit, payback	Measurable criteria, statistics	Formal office, assembly, collective opinion	Ecological, eco-systemic, natural habitats, renewability	Oral exemplary anecdotes	Emotional, experience based
Qualified objects	Wealth	Methods, tools, graphs, lists, etc.	Legal forms (rights, legislation, degree)	Wilderness, pristine, healthy environment, natural habitat	Rules of etiquette, habits, customs, tradition	Emotionally invested body (mind, dream, intuition)
Time formation	Short-term, flexibility Feeds acceleration	Linear, planned future, Feeds acceleration		Cyclic, future generations,	Customary path, continuity	Rupture, slow-down

Source: Adapted from Boltanski and Thévenot (2006) and Lafaye and Thévenot (2017), building on Lockie and Wong (2018) and Rosa (2019).

Table 2. Documentary materials.

Mine and legal case number	Part of the process	Decisions	Number of pages
Case 1: Brickagruvan, M37–17	Exploitation permit	approved (2010)	7 pages
	Environmental permit	approved (2017)	282 pages
Case 2: Billinge, M1180–14	Exploitation permit	approved (1998)	8 pages
	Environmental permit	denied (2022)	122 pages
Case 3: Fäboliden, M1950–18	Exploitation permit	approved (2004)	11 pages
	Environmental permit	denied (2022)	138 pages
Case 4: Kallak, N2017/04553	Exploitation permit	approved by gov. (2022)	33 pages
Case 5: Taberg, M5435–18	Exploration appeal	dismissed (2019)	20 pages

Table 3. Analytical steps.

Boltanski, L., and L. Thévenot. 2006. On Justification: Economies of Worth. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

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Lafaye, C., and L. Thévenot. 2017. “An Ecological Justification? Conflicts in the Development of Nature.” In Justification, Evaluation and Critique in the Study of Organizations, edited by C. Charlotte, G. Jean-Pascal, and L. Bernard, 273–300. Bingley: Emerald Publishing Limited.

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Lockie, S., and C. M. L. Wong. 2018. “Conflicting Temporalities of Social and Environmental Change?” In Environment and Society: Concepts and Challenges, edited by M. Boström and D. Davidson, 327–350. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan.

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Rosa, H. 2019. Resonance: A Sociology of Our Relationship to the World. Cambridge: Polity Press.

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