Swedish mining town sinks into the ground to be moved building by building
The Swedish city of Kiruna will be moved building by building to a new location in the country due to years of mining that have caused it to sink into the ground.
Valuable minerals have also been found in and around it, i.a Europe’s largest deposit of rare earth metalsused to make green technology.
Kiruna is located 200 km north of the Arctic Circle and was founded to house the workers of an iron ore mine that was installed 125 years ago.
Most of its residents have welcomed the move, after taking part in a consultation on their wishes.
Clara Nyström, antiquarian at Kiruna municipality, tells Euronews that the move is a significant improvement.
“They wanted places to meet, like a big square, we didn’t have that [before]. Also a more defined shopping area, like our new shopping street, and also – perhaps most importantly – access to nature. We really enjoy outdoor life, says Nyström.
The relocation of 450,000 square meters of houses, schools, public, commercial and leisure facilities must be completed by 2035.
One of the most sensitive buildings is the iconic church, from 1912, which Lena Tjarnberg, parish priest at the Kiruna Lutheran Church says is crucial for the city.
“It’s very important to move the church for us and for the city. People are very excited about it … that the church is going to the new city, and will not be demolished. I think people are looking forward to the move, for the day when it will happen,” she told Euronews.
Kiruna has about 23,000 inhabitants populating a territory the size of Slovenia.
It is located in a protected landscape that attracts many tourists as it includes birch forests, alpine tundra, seven rivers and 6,000 lakes.
But the expansion of the mine worries the indigenous people of Lapland, the so-called Sami, who mostly make a living from reindeer herding.
The government claims to take their needs into account, but Stefan Mikaelsson, vice chairman of the board of the Sami Parliament, told Euronews that the surrounding nature must be taken into account.
“The biodiversity of the Arctic is very crucial also for the people of the continent. We cannot just depend on the Amazon and pretend that by protecting it we can maintain the consumption habits, the extraction of natural resources and make profits in the Arctic for endless years,” he said .
The mining company involved, LKAB, announced that it will soon use only clean energy sources, aiming to be at the center of the so-called green industrial revolution. But questions remain given that the discovery of rare earths in Kiruna means an expansion of industries in the Arctic.