Marks Unique Clean-Up in The Svea Mine on Svalbard

Published at: Sep 15 2023 - 15:13 / Updated at: Sep 19 2023 - 08:31

On Wednesday, the stage is set for a larger celebration of the Svea mine on Svalbard has been cleared – and that more than 100 years of mining history is over.

Minister of Climate and Environment Espen Barth Eide (Labor); State Secretary John-Erik Vika in the Ministry of Justice and Emergency Preparedness (Center); State Secretary Anne Marit Bjørnflaten (Labor) in the Ministry of Trade and Fisheries, Governor Lars Fause, national antiquarian Hanne Geiran – as well as director of Store Norske, Rune Midtgaard.

The Svea mine was decided to be decommissioned and returned to its natural state by the Storting in 2017. The Governor of Svalbard has led the clean-up, while Store Norske has been responsible for planning and carrying out the practical work together with several public and private actors.

Today, only four buildings and several loose cultural relics remain as testimony to the mining activity in the area. The landscape has been restored back to how it was before the 1940s.