CONCISE HISTORY OF THE MINING CASE

The chapter “The Mines” explained why the IC owns the mines in Mt. Lambafell and Mt. Litla-Sandfell and that the mining operation there started around the middle of the last century. So what is the problem concerning the mining operation? This chapter traces that history – the history of “the mining case” – in a concise way to provide an overview for the reader, before the report dives deeper into specific aspects of the case. 

The IC owns the Breiðabólstaður property and on it there are two mines, located in Mt. Litla-Sandfell and Mt. Lambafell in the Þrengslin Pass. The IC began using the mines in the latter half of the 20th century. At first, relatively little amount of minerals were mined since equipment and the mining business was much less advanced than it is today, many decades later. 

In 2008 and 2009, the EXCOM signed contracts with Eden[1] concerning the operation of these two mines. Eden is a company that church members Eiríkur Ingvarsson and Kristinn Ólafsson founded specifically to create a steady profit[2] for the IC. This they were going to do buy selling the minerals to Norway for rock wool production.[3] 

After the first shipment arrived in Norway, it was discovered that the minerals were not suitable for such a production.[4] (It seems that neither the EXCOM nor Eden investigated this issue sufficiently before signing the contracts.[5]) According to the contracts, they were to be terminated if negotiations with the expected buyer[6] (in Norway) failed but this was not done. The mining operation was mostly dormant for nearly a decade. 

In 2015, the first public criticism of Eden’s mining operation appeared, in the report of the Hlíðardalsskóli Committee (this is not the same as Hlíðardalssetrið). The report was distributed at Session in 2015.[7] 

In 2017, the mining operation suddenly became regular and massive. The EXCOM noticed that Eden was often in arrears and decided that some factors in Eden’s mode of operation had to be looked at better. The EXCOM launched an investigation and asked Kristján Ari Sigurðsson to lead the investigation with Treasurer Judel Ditta.[8] Due to their workload, the EXCOM launched this investigation late in their term. The investigation was obviously meant to continue into the next term of the next EXCOM. However, the Treasurer did not provide Kristján Ari Sigurðsson with all the information he needed for the investigation.[9] 

In 2017, many church members who live close to the mines (and drove past them on their way to the capital) started noticing how much material was being mined from Mt. Lambafell (there was barely any operation in Mt. Litla-Sandfell). Upon comparison, they felt there was a great discrepancy between the amounts of material removed and the payments the IC was receiving. These concerns grew over the next few years. This manifested in two ways. First, they had more questions. Second, the discourse became increasingly visible in the church: church members discussed this issue among themselves and also with the administration and the EXCOM members.[10] 

The EXCOM (2019–2023) did not answer the questions and criticism of church members and finally canceled the investigation which the previous EXCOM (2016–2019) had begun.[11] In the spring of 2021,[12] without the knowledge of church members, the EXCOM began re-negotiating with Eden to make a new contract that would replace the older contracts. At this time, spring 2021,[13] the EXCOM yielded to church member pressure and decided to ask the General Conference Auditing Service (GCAS) to investigate the mining case and to decide whether there was something valid in the questions and criticism of church members.[14] In this way, the EXCOM was having its cake and eating it too: the EXCOM was having GCAS investigate whether Eden had adhered to the old contracts and negotiating a new contract with the company at the same time. 

Church members were not informed when the GCAS investigation would be finished. Tired of being ignored by the EXCOM, concerned church members decided to make their questions and criticism more public. On 5 December 2021, five church members wrote an open letter to the EXCOM where they reviewed the mining case and the questions surrounding it.[15] They also sent the letter to the church boards. The five church members urged the EXCOM to seriously consider stepping down and terminating the old contracts. The five church members were Jón Hjörleifur Stefánsson, Ólöf Haraldsdóttir, Ómar Torfason, Sigurgeir Bjarnason, and Sólveig Hjördís Jónsdóttir. The EXCOM did not respond to the letter. 

The Hafnarfjörður church board put the open letter from 5 December 2021 on their meeting agenda in January 2022. President Gavin Anthony was present at the meeting. When board members asked him about the mining case, the President replied that the EXCOM would not comment on the matter during the GCAS investigation and that the GCAS report would provide answers in the case. Until the arrival of this report, the EXCOM would take no action in the mining case. 

It therefore came as a great surprise to most church members, when the EXCOM announced on 1 February 2022 in Kirkjufréttir that they had signed a new decades-long contract with Eden.[16] 

The EXCOM believed there was no need to wait for the GCAS report before signing a new contract. At the same time, they believed the GCAS investigation was so important that it would be inadvisable to hold Session before the report would arrive. Session was therefore postponed from spring 2022 to September later that year.[17] 

Completely secretive negotiations like this were unheard of in the IC up to this time. The fact that the EXCOM signed a contract before the concerns of church members were answered and before the GCAS report arrived caused indignation in the church. 61 church members signed a petition in 2–3 days, requesting the EXCOM to convene an information meeting concerning the mining case, so that the questions of church members would be answered.[18] (This was a considerable number: church attendance on a given Sabbath in the whole country is around 100 – 150 individuals above 18 years old. Some church members are older than 18 years old, or are not active, and only active members below 80 years old were asked if they wanted to sign the petition.) 

The GCAS report arrived in May 2022 and the EXCOM convened a meeting for the church boards May 24.[19] The GCAS report and its conclusions would be presented at the meeting. The EXCOM also asked the church boards to send in their questions about the mining case[20] before the meeting. According to the President, the EXCOM received many pages of questions.[21] These questions were not addressed at the meeting. 

At the meeting, it became apparent that GCAS sidestepped a legal analysis of Eden’s operation[22]  and only analyzed a part of the financial aspect. This was of course impossible: the contract states what should be paid. This means that the legal and financial aspects of the case were inseparable in any investigation. The GCAS report included a list of comments concerning Eden’s mode of operation, and though GCAS avoided calling these comments indications of breaches of contract, it is hardly possible to understand them otherwise.  

At the meeting, the church boards voted whether they wanted the EXCOM to convene another information meeting about the mining case. Since the questions from the church boards had not been addressed at the GCAS meeting, it was hardly a surprise that four out of five church boards voted in favor of having another meeting.[23] Since the church boards cannot tell the EXCOM what to do (except requestion an extraordinary Session), the voting was only advisory. Throughout the summer, the EXCOM discussed whether they should convene such a meeting or not and eventually decided not to.[24] The EXCOM did not announce their decision to the church members until 7 September, when they sent delegates the meeting documents for Session 2022. 

The 41st Session of the Seventh-day Church in Iceland took place 22–25 September 2022 in Suðurhlíðarstofa. The meeting documents which delegates received contained “Skýrsla varðandi námuna” (Report concerning the mine).[25] The report does not address the questions from church boards and church members. On the contrary, in the report the EXCOM declares that it believes that the discussion about the mining case is hurtful: 

[After the GCAS-report, during executive meetings in the summer,] the EXCOM’s conclusion was that convening a meeting solely to answer questions would most likely only lead to greater suffering in the Church, without offering any solution to the case.[26] 

The report does not answer the questions of the church boards and church members (excepting the fact that the EXCOM confesses that their lawyer confirmed that it is possible that Eden transferred the 2009 contract to a third party, further stating, however, that only the courts could render a verdict on that issue.[27]) 

The EXCOM’s strange conclusion – to sweep the whole case under the rug – is discussed in further detail in a motion. The larger part of the report is devoted to this motion. In nutshell, the motion states that church members should accept not receiving answers and that they should cease discussing the mining case completely:  

VOTED

First, not to discuss the matter further since it is not in the interest of the Church . . . Second, to commence the urgent and united actions of bringing healing to the very many who have been wounded in during this mining discussion.[28] 

However, at the Session, it was moved to ignore the EXCOM’s mining report and to refer the mining case to a investigative committee instead. The TED representatives came with the names of who would sit in the committee. The committee members were to be as follows: Lowell Cooper, Vice President of the General Conference, as chair; GC Office of General Council member, GCAS member, Field Secretary Iain Sweeney, and Victor Pilmoor. Furthermore, it was decided that the report from this committee would be presented to a second half of the Session, 11 December 2022.[29] 24 November 2022, TED President Daniel Duda announced that the second half of the Session would be delayed.[30] It is uncertain when it will be convened. 

In the meantime, the national discourse about how the mining case relates to Þorlákshöfn Town has become very visible. Dozens of articles and news items have been published in the media,[31] both articles on news websites and in print, TV and radio news, and at least one parliament member has discussed (negatively) the upcoming project of Heidelberg Materials in Parliament.[32] Resident forum has been held in Þorlákshöfn Town[33] and two petitions have been launched against the project.[34]

[1] The contracts can be found under “Sources & Documents” on the top banner of this website.

[2] This is stated in a bold clause in the introduction of the 2009 contract.

[3] The contract does not explicitly mention mineral sale for Norwegian wool rock production. However, after the advertised schedule of the 2009 Session, this business idea was presented to delegates as the idea of the contract. Delegates are witnesses to this and the author has heard reports from several attendees. Furthermore, the EXCOM affirmed that export had been foundational to the proposed mining operation of Eden: “The mineral mines renters still have had no sales, seeing that export was foundational to their plans. The problem lies in the fact that the grain size of the mine minerals was inconvenient for export, and transporting and storing the material in Þorlákshöfn.” “Resolutions of the EXCOM,” Aðventfréttir, March 2014, p. 8. This fact is also expressed in the open letter of Eiríkur Ingvarsson and Kristinn Ólafsson, in which they trace the history of the old contracts (from 2008 and 2009). “The old contracts concerning Mt. Sandfell and Mt. Lambafell were signed in 2008 and 2009 and were valid until 2028 and 2034. The plans were to export the material for rock wool production.” Eiríkur Ingvarsson and Kristinn Ólafsson, open letter to church members, 17 February 2023, p. 4.

[4] Sandra Mar Huldudóttir, “Skýrsla fjármálastjóra” (Treasurer Report), meeting documents for Session 2015, p. 40.

[5] Eiríkur Ingvarsson and Kristinn Ólafsson seem to say that the issue was only investigated after Eden made the contract with the IC: “The old contracts concerning Mt. Sandfell and Mt. Lambafell were signed in 2008 and 2009 and were valid until 2028 and 2034. The plans were to export the material for rock wool production by Rockwool As. in Denmark. Mineral samples were sent to them to investigate whether this material would be convenient for their rock wool production for housing insulation. We received the answer that the material was indeed suitable and they wanted to negotiate a contract. In December 2010, a contract with Rockwool was signed as had been planned.” Their open letter then discusses this history in detail lower on the same page: “After we took over the mining operation [which must mean: “after we, the owners of Eden, signed a contract with the IC”], we started an extensive search into how to make the mine profitable for the denomination. With the assistance of the Danish embassy, we gained the audience of the largest rock wool producer in Europe, Rockwood International. Rockwool decided to investigate the matter further … We made a long-term basic agreement with Rockwool and began sending shipments to their factory in Moss, Norway.” Eiríkur Ingvarsson and Kristinn Ólafsson, open letter to church members, 17 February 2023, p. 4. The EXCOM affirmed that export had been foundational to the proposed mining operation of Eden: “The mineral mines renters still have had no sales, seeing that export was foundational to their plans. The problem lies in the fact that the grain size of the mine minerals was inconvenient for export, and transporting and storing the material in Þorlákshöfn.” “Resolutions of the EXCOM,” Aðventfréttir, March 2014, p. 8.

[6] Contract between the IC and Eden concerning Mt. Lambafell, 2009, article no. 8.

[7] Open letter to the EXCOM, 5 December 2021, 7n23.

[8] EXCOM, resolution 53/2019, 9 April 2019. The resolution was carefully worded but the EXCOM members from this term can testify to the purpose of the resolution.

[9] Conversation of the author with Kristján Ari Sigurðsson.

[10] E.g., Sigurgeir Bjarnason. He started talking about the mining case in 2011. Sigurgeir Bjarnason, email to Jón Hjörleifur Stefánsson, 8 August 2022. Many other church members in Árnes/Selfoss church could be mentioned.

[11] “Already in 2019, I informed the EXCOM that payments were not arriving on time and that there was evidence for serious default because of a possible transfer of contract. I followed up on this matter via letter to the EXCOM. I then tried to follow up on the matter continuously, until the EXCOM declined my further involvement in May 2021. They decided this at a meeting which I had wanted to attend to present my findings to the entire EXCOM. Their reasoning was as follows: “it would be more convenient that the EXCOM would instead finish a certain procedure concerning this case.” The EXCOM then referred the mining case to GCAS.” Kristján Ari Sigurðsson, „Hverjum ber að gæta hagsmuna Kirkju sjöunda dags aðventista?“ (Whose Responsibility Is It to Protect the Interests of the Icelandic Conference?), Samantektin, 22. september 2022. Cf. also the resolutions of the EXCOM no. 2021/47 and 2021/48, 11 May 2021. In resolution no. 2021/48 it is wrongly stated that Sigurðsson and Ditta had concluded the investigation.

[12] “Almost a year ago, the Iceland Conference and Eden Mining began discussions concerning the possibility of a new venture concerning our mines. During this time, the Conference and Trans-European Division have been operating under a non-disclosure agreement due to the commercial sensitivity of the discussions, but now the Executive Committee is able to share some news.” The EXCOM, Námufréttir – Mining news, 1 February 2022. See Appendices.

[13] The resolution about the GCAS investigation is not found in the published minutes. It is probably one of the “confidential” (and hence, redacted) items in the minutes. It is likely that the resolution is no. 2021/47, the immediately preceding the resolution that cancels the investigation of Kristján Ari Sigurðsson (no. 2021/48)

[14] For the GCAS investigation, cf. the chapter “The GCAS Investigation.”

[15] Jón Hjörleifur Stefánsson, Ólöf Haraldsdóttir, Ómar Torfason, Sigurgeir Bjarnason, and Sólveig Hjördís Jónsdóttir, open letter to the EXCOM, 5 December 2021.

[16] EXCOM administrators, Námufréttir – Mining news, 1 February 2022. The contract is valid until 2037 and, if some conditions are met, until 2051. Contract between the IC and Eden, article no. 3.

[17] “It has been pointed out to us that it is essential to have this report before we hold a Session—so when we hold a session, we will have all the information that is needed. Therefore, in consultation with the TED, the Executive Committee voted this week to postpone the Conference Session to sometime between mid[-]September and November this year, although our preference is for September.” Gavin Anthony, Kirkjufréttir, 1 April 2022, emphasis in the original.

[18] Elísa Elíasdóttir sent the petition to the EXCOM on 23 March 2022. Elísa Elíasdóttir, email to the EXCOM, 23 March 2022. There were many church members who gathered the signatures and Elíasdóttir was not the leader of the group.

[19] Gavin Anthony, email to church leaders, 30 March 2022.

[20] “If your board has specific questions, we would like ask your board send us your questions ahead of time so we can prepare as best we can.” Gavin Anthony, email to church leaders, 30 March 2022.

[21] “We [the EXCOM] have literally received pages and pages and pages of questions from people.” Gavin Anthony, introductive speech, GCAS meeting, 24 May 2022, typed up by the author.

[22] “I am not an attorney, I’m not trying to interpret the contract . . . There are findings associated with [our analysis] and I am not going to call them non-compliances, I am not an attorney, I am not pretending to be one, but our findings indicated that there were some issues with the application of the terms of the articles of the contract. But the key finding with that is the fact right here [GCAS report, p. 5] that neither party ‘exercised their rights to rescission’ and [did not consider] any of these findings that we had identified as major defaults in the contract. So both parties [Eden and the EXCOM] continued. So it doesn’t really matter to us [GCAS and his interlocutor, Kristján Ari Sigurðsson] as non-principals to this contract whether we think they’re [Eden] in violation of the contract or not. The fact is that they [Eden and the EXCOM] continued with prevailing terms of the contract.” Michael Merrifield, GCAS meeting, 24 May 2022, emphasis his. Cf. also the GCAS report, April 2022, p. 3.

[23] The only church board that did not vote for a second meeting was Reykjavík church. Eiríkur Ingvarsson, co-owner of Eden, is a member of that church.

[24] 30 May 2022, the EXCOM decided to convene a second information meeting on 23 June and even decided the meeting program. It was also decided to “publish all questions / letters we have received and provide written answers before the meeting.” EXCOM, resolution 2022/56, 30 May 2022. This meeting was never advertised. At their next meeting, 21 June, only two days before the planned information meeting, the EXCOM decided to deliberate further concerning the meeting option, since they were “still waiting on legal clarification on the mining issue” from their lawyer. EXCOM, resolution 2022/57, 21 June 2022. At their next meeting, 4 July 2022, the EXCOM discussed “how to move forward with the situation that has risen around the mining business” but made reached no decision. EXCOM, booking 2022/58, 4 July 2022. The EXCOM did not discuss the mining case further during the meetings that followed (unless confidential issue 2022/66, 4 August 2022 concerned the mining case). But what is clear is that the EXCOM decided not to hold the meeting. Instead, the EXCOM wrote a report about the mining case. In this report, it is stated that the EXCOM decided not to hold the meeting. Cf. the main body of text.

[25] The EXCOM, “Skýrsla varðandi námuna” (Report concerning the Mine), meeting documents for Session 2022, pp. 81–84.

[26] The EXCOM, “Skýrsla varðandi námuna” (Report concerning the Mine), p. 81.

[27] “After having received the GCAS report and realized that Icelandic lawyers were not involved in its making, and after having received complaints from members about the focus of the report being too narrow, the EXCOM requested a memo from its lawyers concerning the word transfer (framsal). In late August, after great deliberation over the summer, our lawyers concluded that it is possible to argue that a transfer had occurred. However, they also pointed out that since there were different views on the matter, the only way possible to settle the issue would be to bring it court.” “Skýrsla varðandi námuna” (Report concerning the Mine), p. 83.

[28] The EXCOM, “Skýrsla varðandi námuna” (Report concerning the Mine), pp. 83, 84.

[29] The minutes from the first part of Session 2022 (which will expectedly be published in the meeting documents for the second part of the Session). I am a witness to the first part of the Session since I was in attendance.

[30] TED President Daniel Duda, “Session Postponed,” Kirkjufréttir, 24 November 2022.

[31] Cf. overview over published articles in the Appendices.

[32] Andrés Ingi Jónsson, the Facebook page/account „Andrés Ingi á Þingi,” FB-post, 18 November 2022, https://fb.watch/gWas2WGIGT/.

[33] Sunna Ósk Logadóttir, “Litla þorpið sem á að bjarga þýska risanum” (The Little Village Which Is Supposed to Save the German Giant), Kjarninn.is, 19 November 2022, https://kjarninn.is/skyring/litla-thorpid-sem-a-ad-bjarga-thyska-risanum/.

[34] Landvernd, “Áskorun: Höfnum námuvinnslu á Mýrdalssandi og í Þrengslunum” (Challenge: Let Us Reject Mining Industry in Mýrdalssandur and Þrengslin Pass), Landvernd.is, https://landvernd.is/askorun-namuvinnsla-i-myrdal-og-threngslum/; Jakob Bjarnar, „Landvernd skorar á sveitastjórnir að hafna námuvinnslu” (Landvernd – Icelandic Environment Association Urges Municipalities to Reject Mining Projects), Visir.is, 6 September 2022, https://www.visir.is/g/20222307740d/land-vernd-skorar-a-sveitar-stjornir-ad-hafna-namu-vinnslu; Hrafnhildur Hlín Hjartardóttir, “Enga jarðefnaverksmiðju í Þorlákshöfn” (No Mineral Factory in Þorlákshöfn Town), https://is.petitions.net/enga_jarefnaverksmiu_i_orlakshofn; Ása Berglind Hjálmarsdóttir and Hrafnhildur Lilja Harðardóttir, “Áskorun að loknum íbúafundi Heidelberg Material” (Challenge after Resident Forum of Heidelberg Materials), Visir.is, 16 November 2022, https://www.visir.is/g/20222339723d/askorun-ad-loknum-ibuafundi-heidelberg-material.