Sastamala homeowners denied hundreds of thousands in compensation over Dragon Mining concentrator

Two Sastamala waterfront homeowners who sought hundreds of thousands of euros for alleged harm to recreational use of local waters will receive nothing after Finland’s Regulatory and Supervisory Authority (LVV) rejected their claims on Thursday, YLE reports. They had demanded €184,000 and about €420,000 respectively, saying Storm concentrator operations reduced property values and damaged fishing, bathing and other uses. LVV ruled it will not order compensation for the concentrator’s post-1996 activity; the period before 1996 was already settled in court. The decision follows years of litigation and can be appealed to the Vaasa Administrative Court.

A 2024 Supreme Administrative Court ruling forced further studies of Evonlahti and its sediments. Those studies showed elevated metal concentrations, especially nickel, compared with natural background levels, and indicated a contribution from the plant’s discharges. But LVV said monitoring found no observable changes in water quality, benthic fauna or microalgae communities that could be tied to sediment metals, and the authority noted substantial uncertainty in attributing historical loads.

Dragon Mining had offered €1,500 to each claimant as precautionary compensation for possible future dredging damage, but LVV said it could not require such advance payments.