An Arctic raw resources boom In Northern Europe, an Arctic raw resources boom
Radio Sweden | Eye on the Arctic | Jan 05, 2012
The job market is bright in Norrbotten County, fuelled by growing global demand for iron-ore and other industrial and precious metals. And while the ground under the city of Kiruna is sinking because of the iron ore mine, it is precisely because of that iron ore, that the job market is soaring.
“In Kiruna we have 2.8 percent unemployment,” says Terje Raattamaa, the head of the Employment Office in Kiruna. “That is one of the lowest unemployment rates in Sweden.”
Just outside the small mining town of Pajala, Northland Resources, an international mining company, is currently building two new iron ore mines.
“We’ve done exploration during the past seven years, but before we started the construction last year, there was just a swamp area and trees here,” says Niclas Dahlström from Northland Resources. “Now we’re investing over US $720 million in the site.”
Northland Resources already has three large customers that will buy every single ounce of iron ore the company produces during its first decade. Two traders, Standard Bank and Stemcor, will buy the product and sell it. The third customer, the large steel conglomerate Tata Steel, will use the raw material itself.
Northland Resources says it will employ hundreds of people. “During the next two years we’ll employ 400 new people and about 200 people working with logistics, driving large trucks to put the product on rail,” says Dahlström.
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https://www.alaskadispatch.com/article/northern-europe-arctic-raw-resources-boom