The Arctic town of Kiruna, already known for its unprecedented relocation to accommodate mining activity, now faces another massive move. Municipal officials say 2,700 additional homes and some 6,000 residents — a third of the town’s population — will need to be relocated over the next decade due to the planned expansion of LKAB’s giant underground iron ore mine.
“I call on the Swedish government to contact Kiruna municipality as quickly as possible. We can’t manage without help from the state and the government in this situation,” municipal leader Mats Taaveniku told reporters on Friday.
State-owned miner LKAB, which operates the world’s largest underground iron ore mine, confirmed in updated forecasts on Thursday that relocation must begin immediately to secure operations until and beyond 2035.
The latest phase follows earlier moves: in 2022, a new retail district opened 3 km from the original town center, and just this month Kiruna’s historic church was physically transported to a new location.
Sweden’s Minister for Energy, Business and Industry, Ebba Busch, said the government had contacted the municipality and acknowledged the complexity of balancing “different national interests.” She emphasized that LKAB had committed to providing compensation and welcomed the company’s continued investments in Norrbotten, which she said would safeguard jobs and reduce reliance on “dangerous states” for raw materials.