– There is very good unity among us who work here, says Dan André Danielsen (30). The clock has struck 07:30, but the miners on Svalbard have already been at work for over an hour. They are getting ready for a dusty day deep in mine 7, deep in a mountain towering over Longyearbyen. The miners get ready to drive into the stuff deep inside the mine tunnel. Photo: Dan Henrik Klausen Norway’s last coal mine is located on Svalbard and is being decommissioned. Although mine 7 is living on borrowed time, there are young people who have chosen to pursue a career here as a miner. One of them is Egil Nikolai Hagen (20). He has lived in Svalbard all his life, and has always dreamed of working in the mine. After a three-year apprenticeship at upper secondary school, he had his dream fulfilled. – It’s an incredibly stylish job. To be part of this story that will soon end, says Hagen. The road up to Mine 7 in Svalbard. Photo: Dan Henrik Klausen Over 100 years of mining history comes to an end Store Norske Spitsbergen Kulkompani has operated a total of 15 mines on Svalbard since 1916. The world is moving to renewable energy, and coal-fired power plants are among the forms of energy with the highest greenhouse gas emissions. It has thus been an important part of Norwegian climate policy to phase out this form of energy. “The miner” is a sculpture by Tore Bjørn Skjølsvik. The statue is located in the middle of Longyearbyen, and was erected outside the building where the miners changed into their work clothes in the old days. Today, a shopping center has been built. Photo: Dan Henrik Klausen Now only Mine 7 remains. It annually delivers around 30,000 tonnes of coal to the power plant in Longyearbyen. About fifty people work in the industry now, but before the mines were closed down one by one, Store Norske’s mines were the cornerstone company on the archipelago. The last miners Dan André Danielsen and Egil Nikolai Hagen work as miners in Svalbard. In 2008, 440 people were employed in mining here, now there are about 50 left. Photo: Dan Henrik Klausen – You get quite dirty, there is a bit of dust. When you sweat lightly, the dust also sticks to the skin. This is how Egil Nikolai Hagen describes the characteristic soot-coloured faces of miners after a day’s work digging for coal. After the war in Ukraine broke out, the world needed more coal, and thus Mine 7 had to extend operations for two more years. Thus, the last miners are living on borrowed time. Egil Nikolai’s colleague Dan Andre Danielsen has had many dismissals during his twelve-year career: – There must have been well over 20 times since I started in 2011. Most of them came to the rap in the period between 2014-2016, then I have had dismissals followed of new periods one after the other since. Nevertheless, Danielsen remains in this unique job. Danielsen and Hagen work in pitch darkness and a constant temperature all year round, in the stuff deep inside the mine. Photo: Dan Henrik Klausen On a normal working day, they drive from Longyearbyen up to the mine early in the morning. When they get to the stuffa, deep inside the mine, they work with various machines to produce coal. Hagen describes a very special feeling working in the pitch black which always maintains a steady, cool temperature – regardless of the forces of nature outside, which can be brutal on the archipelago in winter. – The mine itself and this type of work keep me going. Once you feel comfortable here, you feel good. It is delightful. You are on your own inside the mountain. No cover, no one to come and disturb you, says Danielsen. Miners Danielsen and Hagen hope that it is they themselves who have to hand in the resignation on the day they might want to quit their jobs, and not that it comes from Store Norske. But in all likelihood they will be dismissed from 2025. Photo: Dan Henrik Klausen Waiting for the dismissal Danielsen has been at Gruve 7 permanently since 2016, and the last dismissal has not yet come. – I hope that it is I myself who deliver it, this time. Nor has colleague Hagen received any notice of termination. Egil Nikolai Hagen has always lived in Svalbard and as a child dreamed of working in the mine. That dream was fulfilled, but soon life in the mine on Svalbard will end. Photo: Dan Henrik Klausen When asked what his future looks like, he replies that right now it is until the summer of 2025 that applies. – It is the second time it has been shut down in the four years I’ve been here, so we’ll see, he says. Do you see other opportunities when the coal operation is eventually shut down? – Not exactly within the field of mining and quarrying, no. But I think that when I’m done in mine 7, I’ll be done in Svalbard. I can’t imagine finding a new job here in such a situation. Then I feel more like working on the mainland, says Hagen. He imagines that he will be able to find a job on land in construction, tunnel construction or the mine rescue corps if life as a miner on Svalbard finally ends in 2025. Mine 7 is located on the south side of Adventdalen, between Bolterdalen and Foxdalen, about an hour’s drive from Longyearbyen. The mountain above is called Gruve 7 mountain. Photo: Dan Henrik Klausen New Svalbard message will be decisive Many Svalbardians are looking forward to next year. Because then there will be an important clarification from the Norwegian authorities about the strategically important island group located between 74° and 81° north. Namely the new Svalbard message. The new Svalbard message In the Government’s previous Svalbard message it was stated that the overarching goals of the Svalbard policy, on which there is broad political agreement, are: – Consistent and firm enforcement of sovereignty. – Correct compliance with the Svalbard Treaty and control that the treaty is complied with. – Preservation of calm and stability in the area. – Preservation of the area’s distinctive wilderness nature. – Maintenance of Norwegian communities on the archipelago. Justice Minister Emilie Enger Mehl says there is a need to carry out a comprehensive review of the Svalbard policy. There are several reasons for that. A new security situation in Europe, man-made climate change, and a local community that has changed a lot, with a more international feel, and various countries that want to establish themselves here. It is expected that the new Svalbard message will clarify the government’s intentions with its Svalbard policy. The previous Svalbard report came in 2016, and the Government is now working on a new report to the Storting on Svalbard, which will come in 2024. It will establish what Norway wants with Svalbard, how to manage the archipelago, and what kind of activity there will be in the future. The Svalbard message comes two years earlier than normal, but historically has come regularly, approx. every decade. Hundreds of millions of NOK are spent each year on securing permanent Norwegian settlement on Svalbard. Preserving Norwegian society on Svalbard is a stated and overarching goal in Norwegian Svalbard policy, and a national goal to secure national interests. The Norwegian presence on Svalbard must help to assert Norwegian interests in the north, and has a function as a marker of sovereignty, and to clarify legal and governmental relations in the north. Source: Store Norske Lexikon, Regjeringens St.mld. 22, Professor Torbjørn Pedersen at Nord Universitet Svalbard is in a restructuring phase, and there is great excitement about what the government’s policy will be in Svalbard. Should more be invested in tourism? How should one relate to large countries that are getting closer and closer to Norway’s immediate areas in the Arctic? Torbjørn Pedersen is a professor and researcher on security policy challenges in the northern regions at Nord University. He points to several reasons why many are excited: – I tend to say that perhaps the biggest security policy challenge that Norway faces is that so much is said and meant strangely about the Svalbard Treaty, about sovereignty and legal relations on Svalbard. He says it has been important Norwegian policy to have Norwegians permanently resident on the island in order to emphasize and clarify sovereignty. A more international society changes the island group Miner Egil Nikolai Hagen describes growing up on the island far to the north as nice and safe, where he knew who everyone was. In his view, this has changed – now he meets people he does not know more often in Svalbard. He receives support from Professor Pedersen. Torbjørn Pedersen is a professor and Svalbard expert. He says that Svalbard is in the process of developing into an international society where seasonal jobs are becoming more common. He believes it is one of the reasons why the government wants to strengthen the Norwegian presence and makes it necessary with a renewed Svalbard notification. Photo: Nord University – Longyearbyen has developed in a fairly short time from a Norwegian community to an international village. In that sense, Longyearbyen works against its original purpose, because this international character is not entirely unproblematic. He believes that the international environment can reinforce the misunderstandings around sovereignty and government relations, rather than dampening them. That more people perceive this as an international community, the professor believes, is going in a slightly wrong direction from the original Svalbard policy. – If there is one persistent myth that the authorities want to dispel, it is that Svalbard has a kind of international international law status, says Pedersen. He thinks it is difficult to speculate on what the new Svalbard message will contain. But he thinks the Government wants to clear up the overall goals they have had for Svalbard policy since the 1980s: namely to assert sovereignty, ensure that the Svalbard Treaty is maintained, preserve peace and stability, preserve wilderness and maintain Norwegian communities. Pedersen thinks perhaps the government will become clearer about what is the goal and what is the means of action. He says he is unsure whether settlement will remain as a goal in itself. Rather, he believes it can become more clear that Longyearbyen is a means of delivering a Norwegian presence – which in turn should contribute to calm and stability. He further believes that the message will give a warning and a signal to both Norwegian and foreign actors in the archipelago: – If I were to put it bluntly, I think it will be said that it is better with no activity on Svalbard than activity that undermines heavy, national security policy interests. – So if an industry or activity does not harmonize with Norwegian interests, I think you can expect some tough years ahead, he says. Evening sun over Longyearbyen. Photo: Dan Henrik Klausen Thinks it will be difficult to replace Store Norske Pedersen points in particular to mining as a vulnerable industry in the new Svalbard policy. He says that when mining was scaled back dramatically, it was intended that other industries should compensate with jobs, for example tourism, research or fish processing. But over time, Pedersen believes that the closure of the mines has led to working life on the archipelago being characterized by greater temporariness and shorter contracts. Something different from the heyday of Store Norske. Coal dust from the mine on the way up to Gruve 7 mountain outside Longyearbyen. Photo: Dan Henrik Klausen – They have gone from a mining operation with Norwegian workers who lived all year round for a long time, to relatively short contracts. This applies not only to mining, but also to tourism and research. People are here for short stays, and they come from all over the world. Pedersen believes that this has largely characterized Longyearbyen. – Finding an industry that can become the new cornerstone company, an industry that can take over Store Norske’s role, it does not exist. – All the alternatives you see contribute to a more international society, he says. Deep in the stuff in mine 7, Dan André Danielsen and Egil Nikolai Hagen continue to dig for coal in pitch darkness. In the summer of 2025, they will probably have to put the mining boots on the shelf for good. With that, they will end a more than 100-year-long Norwegian mining tradition on the archipelago. Good footwear is important in a physically demanding job in Mine 7 on Svalbard. Photo: Dan Henrik Klausen You can hear more about this and learn more about Svalbard in the program ‘boiling point Svalbard’ here. Minister of Justice and Emergency Preparedness Emilie Enger Mehl did not have the opportunity to comment to news at this time on what the government wants with the new Svalbard message.
ttn-69
Young people work on borrowed time in Svalbard’s last mine – news Troms and Finnmark
