geo - autocracy | mining companies by greg stone
the urban aesthetic of the mining industry Hollow Ground
greg stone
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Kiruna , 20,000 inhabitants in northern Sweden, 145 kilometres north of the Arctic Circle, is literally trying to avoid collapse. The town exists because it sits atop vast iron ore deposits. In 1890 the Swedish government established the mining company Luossavaara-Kiirunavaara Aktiebolag (LKAB), built the first house in Kiruna in 1900 and began mining operations. Today, 100 per cent state-owned LKAB operates Sweden’s largest iron-ore mining operation directly beside Kiruna. Extraction, which angles 60° under the town, has hollowed out the ground underneath; already the railway has been rerouted to avoid areas of subsidence. In 2004, LKAB announced plans to expand the mine directly below the city centre, gradually extending the mine’s property lines to encompass what is now the commercial and residential heart of the city and, clearly, its underground infrastructure of water pipes and electricity lines. To avoid ensuing subsidence and massive structural collapse, the town must move its city centre three kilometres east of its original site. The mine’s expansion will come in stages, but they are big stages. The first, set for next year, will undermine 313 apartments,
City Hall, the main highway going through town and several cultural buildings. Over the next 20 years, 450,000 square metres of city will be moved. Most buildings will be demolished and replaced in a new city centre, while some culturally significant buildings will be carefully dismantled and moved piece by piece to a new location. By the end of the move, more than 3,000 apartments, or 35% of Kiruna, will have been affected. This urban transition will be more than physical. Right now, the general attitude among the Kiruna public is that the move is a necessary evil, but it is a difficult reality for many people to grasp. Ulrika Isaksson, Information Officer for the Kiruna municipal government, has said “I’m not sure if people really understand that they’re leaving their houses. There are indicators of the move everywhere, but still it’s a tough reality”. One indicator was demonstrated in a press conference, when a LKAB representative pointed to one of Kiruna’s tallest apartment buildings and bluntly declared that in several years the property line of the mine would go straight through the building. “That was shocking for many people” says Isaksson.
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