ORGANIZING ROCKS
Earlier this week the project appeared in one of the two local newspapers in Norrbotten (the northern most county in Sweden, where most mines are). Click here to see the article (in Swedish, there’s a link to a video on the site as well). Given the plans for new mines in the region (the mine in Laver, Älvsbyn, was mentioned), the journalist focused on whether or not mines lead to long-term communities or if labor is based on fly in-fly out.
At the time of our first visit, we are told that about 40-45% of all work-hours carried out in the Kiruna mine is done by contractors. Some of them live temporaily in Kiruna (with different duration), something that is rather visible. Some buy and/or rent houses in town, but they are not maintained and temporary houses (we heard the expression “containerliving”) can be observed in the town’s industrial areas. In a discussion with a miner living in Kiruna he says: “Circulation and movement is good for business, but you don’t build a society this way.”