The land of the ‘midnight sun’
I write this week from Kiruna, the northernmost city of Sweden, a sleepy little town, not far from the North Pole.
Kiruna is the economic center of the area and the mining capital of Sweden, Europe and soon probably the world, if recent decisions are carried out as planned to expand mining activity in its environs.
The city is located north of the Arctic Circle, about 950 kilometers northwest of Stockholm. The only practical way to get here from the capital is by car or plane, as it takes too long to get here by train, in a 15-hour slow pace.
More importantly from a cultural perspective, Kiruna is a major cultural center of the Sami people, the original inhabitants of the Arctic areas in Scandinavia, whose numbers have dwindled over the centuries. Their culture is disappearing under the onslaught of modern life and settlement activity in their traditional homeland.
Kiruna is now quiet and idyllic, home to about 20,000 people, not all Sami of course. But it is about to witness a transformation of historical proportions, with unpredictable effect over the Sami way of life.
Kiruna is in the land of "midnight sun," as the sun never sets here these days, and the town remains remarkably covered in sunlight 24 hours a day. It is an exhilarating experience, but can become exhausting for newcomers, as the body gets confused about day and night, and sleep times and visitors may be inclined to stay up all "night" as the sun remains in the sky the whole time.
This phenomenon of around-the-clock sunshine attracts tourists from around the world, who also hike the trails and try to catch a glimpse of what remains of Sami native culture. In mid-July, we were told by locals that the sun will start setting for a few minutes around midnight and the duration of the night will keep increasing until there is total darkness in the winter, when the sun never rises.
But there is another secret to this town. Kiruna sits atop the world’s largest iron ore seam. Already, it alone produces nearly 90 percent of Europe’s iron ore. But now it promises to produce more.
Although it has always been a major mining town, it is about to undergo a major transformation. As prices of iron ore have dramatically risen some 400 percent during the past decade, the city is attracting miners' attention as never before.
To dig tunnels to reach the iron ore lying beneath Kiruna's city center, the whole center of town will be moved about three kilometers east of its current location. In a few months, the move will start. Hundreds of buildings are expected to be torn down in phases, as the digging progresses. It has been decided that it is not safe to allow people to live above ground as tunneling goes on underground, because of the possibilities of building collapse or cracking.
In early 2013, historical buildings will begin to be taken apart, moved to the new location and reassembled. They include the city's church, which in 2001 was voted the most beautiful building in all of Sweden, according to the local tourism office. Those living in the center of the city will have to be moved as well. Yesterday, my family and I made sure to tour the town center and visit the church, before their historic move eastwards.
The government-owned mining giant LKAB is naturally upbeat about this development. Its officials told the Financial Times this week that “This is the greatest expansion in mining activity since the late 1800s when we first discovered how rich the mineral deposits were up in Lapland.” The company, which was the main force behind building modern Kiruna in 1900, is estimating that it would spend 13 billion Swedish Korunas over the next 20 years to carry out this move.
It is testimony to the power of this mining company that the city government seems to be sidelined in the decision making process. Its mayor has resigned herself to the move, despite her anxiety about how it is going to change the way the city looks and how its population lives.
More alarming for some people is that this move to the east will only be temporary, as the new location too sits on top iron ore deposits. The town may have to move again in coming decades as extraction of the ore gets extended to the new location of the town.
Despite these worries, the expected economic benefits are enough for many inhabitants to justify the unsettling move. Because of its mining riches, Kiruna already has higher per capita income than Stockholm, especially when you take into consideration purchasing power parity (PPP). With the expansion of mining activities, the city and its population are expected to get even richer. LKAB alone could boost its workforce by 30 percent The new spending by the company and the expanded tax base would make it easier for the town to refurbish its drab image, increase funds to schools, hospitals, welfare and entertainment.
However, what may be underestimated are the effects of the move on the culture of the Sami people, as mining has always been implicated in this region in infringing on their way of life. More on this forgotten part of the story next week.
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