Hunting high and low
Lack of labor is the biggest challenge as billions are invested in expanding the mining industry in northern Sweden.
Some 1,500 new jobs will come, mainly in the north. Mining giants like Boliden and LKAB are investing billions of Swedish kroner in expanding exciting mines, like in Gällivare and Kiruna.
- It is dubiously that people with needed skills can be found locally, says Lennart Gustavsson, head of the mining industries interest organization Georange to the Norrländska Socialdemokraten.
Gustavsson says it might be that qualified workers will have to fly-in – fly-out, just like workers to oil-platforms.
In Pajala, the mining company Northland recently started to prepare for new iron-ore mines, supposed to enter production next year. The mining and ore-transport in the area will create hundreds of new jobs.
Read also: Multi-billion investments in the Barents Region
Iron ore miner LKAB says they will open three new mines south of Kiruna, but the question is; where to find the miners? Many Swedish miners have emigrated to Kirkenes in northern Norway where the local mining company Sydvaranger Gruve pays higher salaries.
- We need to find ways to attract foreigners to seek jobs in the mining industry in northern Sweden, Minister for Enterprise and Energy Maud Olofsson told SVT visiting Luleå last week.
Recruiting miners from Norway or Finland can be hard. Mining industry is booming also in northern Norway and Finland.
The Norwegian government has started a process of opening for more Russians to work in northern Norway. Last year, 700 Russians reported their interest in moving to Sorsele in northern Sweden after the municipality sent a delegation to Apatity on Russia’s Kola Peninsula in an attempt to recruit labor.
