Mine in Sweden’s Arctic suspends payments to creditors
Northland Resources, an international mining company that runs an iron ore mine outside of Pajala in northern Sweden, is suspending payments to its suppliers and creditors and entering an informal reorganization, according to a press release Monday.
Several weeks ago, Northland said it needed more money to carry out its activities and that it was looking into different possibilities for how to accomplish this.
It opened the mine in Kaunisvaara at the end of 2012 with the long-term goal of producing four million tons of iron ore concentrate per year.
The project means hundreds of new jobs for the region, but from the start, the company has grappled with economic problems. Last year, they underwent reconstruction to avoid bankruptcy.
Related stories from around the North:
Canada: Arctic mining – unexpected social negatives for Inuit women, Radio Canada International
Greenland: Analysis: Implications of Greenland’s decision to allow uranium mining, Blog by Mia Bennett
Norway: Sustainable future for Arctic people?, from Deutsche Welle’s Iceblogger
Russia: Analysis – Putin shutters Russian indigenous peoples’, Blog by Mia Bennett
Sweden: Artists boycott market in Arctic Sweden over mining conflict, Radio Sweden
United States: Oregon mining company says it can build Arctic port for Alaska, Alaska Dispatch
