City of 18,000 people being moved 'building by building' after rare discovery

21 September 2023 , 22:08

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The iron mine of Swedish state-owned mining company LKAB in Kiruna (Image: AFP via Getty Images)

A Swedish town is set to be moved building by building to a new location as years of mining have made it sink to the ground, damaging infrastructure including a school and a hospital.

Valuable minerals have been found in Kiruna, a town of 18,000 inhabitants located 125 miles above the Arctic Circle. Earlier this year, it was announced that Kiruna was sitting on the largest known deposit of rare earth elements, which are used to produce electric car batteries and wind turbines.

The country's deputy prime minister, Ebba Busch, said Sweden "is literally a goldmine" and urged Europe "to learn the lesson" and not being dependent on one single country for gas as many countries have done with Russia. Kiruna's fate has been intertwined with that of its mine - run by Swedish state-owned company LAB - since it was founded in 1900. The mine is the largest iron mine in the world and produces 80% of the European Union's supply.

Homes will be moved and around 6,000 will leave the area (Getty Images)

But it appears that Kiruna has become a victim of its own mining success because, while six Eiffel Towers worth of ore is extracted from the mine each day, this has also caused land deformation on its western border, which is putting residents at risk as it threatens to swallow the town. According to reports, cracks have been found in the hospital and a local school is no longer considered safe for its residents.

Now, a project to move Kiruna to a new home - 1.9 miles east of the old town 0 is expected to be completed in 2026. One of the buildings that will be moved is the iconic church which opened in 1912 and was described by vicar Lena Tjärnberg as "the living room of the community".

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She told Euronews: "It is very important to move the church for us and for the city. People are very happy about that... that the church is going to the new city, and is not going to be torn down. I think people are looking forward to the move, for the day when it is going to happen."

While many residents welcomed the move as they have seen it as an opportunity for improvement, the expansion of the mine has been worrying the Sami community - the indigenous people of Lapland - who gave Kiruna its name, from the Sami word giron which means snow grouse.

The Sami people, who have been herding reindeer through Arctic lands for centuries, now fear that their way of lief is coming under pressure. Reindeer have already been struggling to find their main winter food source, lichen, due to the climate crisis.

Kiruna is sinking into the ground due to its mine (Getty Images)

Now, the fragmentation of the land makes reindeer herding even more difficult. Stefan Mikaelsson, the deputy chair of the board of the Sami parliament, told the Observer: "We have the railroad and we also have the mining business and now the movement of the city centre. It is more and more difficult to continue with the movement of reindeers."

LKAB spokesperson Anders Lindberg said two Sami villages have had to change their reindeer herding routes since the mine opened in 1900, but added the company is now "much better" at listening to herders and trying to minimise the impact on their work. But he warned: "It is possible that there will be an impact on reindeer herding and that they will have to reroute again."

The project will see almost 6,000 people move their homes, with tenants seeing their rents going up to a cap of 25% higher than the old rate. Nina Eliasson, the head of planning at Kiruna municipality, said rents need to be raised to upgrade the 1960s housing stock.

She also added the work may not be complete until 2023 and said Kiruna has not received any confirmation that future mining may not lead to further changes. She said: "We didn't get any guarantees at all. We had to accept it."

Mr added that the surrounding nature must be taken into account because biological diversity in the Arctic is very crucial also for the people of the continen. He said: "We cannot just depend on the Amazon and pretend that by protecting it we are then allowed to keep the consumption habits, the extraction of natural resources and gaining profits in the Arctic by endless amount of years."

Chiara Fiorillo