Kiruna: A town makes way for an iron ore mine
The world's largest underground iron ore mine lies in northern Sweden. Now, more deposits have been found underneath the mining town of Kiruna and the whole city must relocate, via truck.
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00:00Kiruna, a mining town located 1,200 kilometers from Sweden's capital Stockholm.
00:08It's March and the city has yet to emerge from the long winter.
00:13What has brought most people here for the past 100 years is work in Europe's largest iron ore mine.
00:20A mine tour.
00:23You can drive several hundred meters deep into its interior by car.
00:29We enter the mine at a 230-meter level, meaning that we are 230 meters under the top of the mountain.
00:36That's the zero point.
00:40We arrive at a depth of more than 1,300 meters in the world's biggest iron ore mine.
00:46A new experience for me.
00:49No dusty, dirty working environment. That probably still exists somewhere.
00:54But state-owned company LKAB is proud of its modern ore mining.
00:59Alexander Falket controls an excavator remotely.
01:05Everything is computer-operated.
01:12It looks like a hotel lounge here, the terminal workers' new office.
01:20The iron ore minerals are delivered to the excavator by remote-controlled jackhammers.
01:27It does depend if it is a diesel-driven or an electrical-driven machine, and it also depends on the raw quality.
01:35Yeah, but this one, for example.
01:37Generally, this machine will get 18 tons per round, so to say.
01:42So on a normal shift that is allowed to continuously run, it could easily produce, say, 2,000 tons.
01:49This mine makes Sweden the 12th largest iron ore producer in the world and a reliable supplier for EU steel producers.
02:03The iron ore is carted away in automated electric trains like this.
02:09The ore contains about 50% iron.
02:20It is finely ground and then melted in rotary kilns.
02:25The operators say that 100% renewable electricity is used.
02:32They want to replace all combustion engines with electric drives.
02:38They aim to create an end product of 100% green sponge iron by 2045.
02:49Yes, we have those discussions already, and the customers of our customers are willing to buy this fossil-free steel.
02:56From Kiruna, a change of scene, to the east coast of Luleå.
03:00LKAB already runs the Hybrit smelting furnace with other industrial partners here.
03:06It uses hydrogen to create a precursor to steel from the raw iron pellets.
03:12And in 2028, the iron ore producer wants to get into the business of making climate-neutral sponge iron itself.
03:20This would further add to its value.
03:23Last year, LKAB made a profit of 1.4 billion euros.
03:28Significant deposits of rare earths have been found nearby.
03:33Now the old mining town is to make way as there are rich deposits of iron ore beneath it.
03:39And right next door, four kilometers away, the new town of Kiruna.
03:44It cost over a billion euros, paid for by the mining company.
03:49So how are the residents coping?
03:53Well, me and myself haven't actually moved my household, but I think it's a new start.
03:58You know, it's a new beginning for a lot of things.
04:00And of course, it stirs up a lot of emotions, a lot of confusion and things.
04:06But it's a new beginning that we can all be a part of in this modern day.
04:11So that's pretty exciting.
04:14I like the detail that is put into it.
04:17If you look at the facades and the little design details,
04:20you can tell that the architect has kind of done the research on the town.
04:26Around 6,000 residents must relocate.
04:29Construction will only take 10 years,
04:32but the town curator makes plans well in advance and asks the residents what they wanted.
04:38We asked the residents,
04:40what do you lack in the old city and what do you want in the new city?
04:47So one thing was a more defined shopping area,
04:51because we didn't have any shopping streets and so on.
04:54So here I'm standing on the new shopping street and a lot of stores here.
04:58And they also wanted to have more nature,
05:01because nature is very important for Kiruna.
05:07And city representatives have already been given a new city hall,
05:11paid for by the mining company.
05:13Sweden is becoming more important as a supplier of iron ore to the EU
05:18and in the future of rare earths,
05:21as Russia and China are unreliable supply partners.
05:24That's why the mayor finds it important that new workers move here to the north.
05:29Already we are an attractive city because of this new city center
05:34and our close position to the nature.
05:39We can reach everywhere in shorter time than 5 to 10 minutes from the new city center,
05:47if you want to go to ski and so on.
05:51Dozens of historic wooden houses from the old town
05:55are being brought over to the new Kiruna, towed in by truck.
05:59The old identity is to live on in the new town.
06:03The old town is already starting to sink,
06:05as the valuable iron ore is being dug out from underneath it.