<p>A major issue that has been a subject for quite some time is whether there will be a scarcity of metals in the bedrock in the future and whether or not we might end up with a problem similar to that of the big oil crisis in the mid-seventies. Following the oil crisis many oil companies started up with risk management to control future risks. This work presents how Swedish mining companies work with risk management to handle risks that might come up in the future due to metal scarceness. How Swedish mining companies look at the possible metal scarceness and if they use risk management in their decision-making process is studied. By doing interviews with Swedish owned mining companies it was found that the mining companies did not see the future metal scarcity as a risk, even though 2/3 of the companies acknowledged the scarceness to be a reality. Nor did they use risk management for that specific issue. However, risk management in other issues related to metal scarcity was found, and by using different financial risk analyses the companies could look at probabilities and consequences of different risks. With these findings in mind the suggestion for mining companies is not to put effort, money and resources into metal scarcity risk management since it cannot be controlled, but instead put effort, money and resources into finding substitutes for metals and recycling the metals already in rotation.</p>

A major issue that has been a subject for quite some time is whether there will be a scarcity of metals in the bedrock in the future and whether or not we might end up with a problem similar to that of the big oil crisis in the mid-seventies. Following the oil crisis many oil companies started up with risk management to control future risks. This work presents how Swedish mining companies work with risk management to handle risks that might come up in the future due to metal scarceness. How Swedish mining companies look at the possible metal scarceness and if they use risk management in their decision-making process is studied. By doing interviews with Swedish owned mining companies it was found that the mining companies did not see the future metal scarcity as a risk, even though 2/3 of the companies acknowledged the scarceness to be a reality. Nor did they use risk management for that specific issue. However, risk management in other issues related to metal scarcity was found, and by using different financial risk analyses the companies could look at probabilities and consequences of different risks. With these findings in mind the suggestion for mining companies is not to put effort, money and resources into metal scarcity risk management since it cannot be controlled, but instead put effort, money and resources into finding substitutes for metals and recycling the metals already in rotation.