taking a closer look at the mining process in Bjørnevatn & Nikel

taking a closer look at the mining process in Bjørnevatn & Nikel

history of Bjørnevatn-birth of the iron mine

Bjørnevatn is even today known as the “mining town”, even tough the mines were closed down in 1996. The mining adventure started in 1906, and drew workers from entire Scandinavia to the area. The world wars caused a pause in the mining activities, but after they finished there was a great demand for iron ore. Towards the end of the second world war, 2500 people took refuge inside a mining tunnel. Several lived inside for two months, and 10 children were born inside. The 50’s, 60’s and 70’s was a golden period for the society. Then came the hard 80’s. The iron ore from Kirkenes became to expensive. From 1200 employees the mining giant was gradually slimmed down. 1996 marked the end of 90 years of mining history, the mines were closed down and much of the equipment was sold.

Like Kirkenes, Bjørnevatn is built up around AS Sydvaranger’s mining industry. The settlement counting a population of about 1500 is therefore called “the mining town” among people. The mine is located in the center of Bjørnevatn and is one of the biggest open cast mines in Northern Europe. The mine was closed in 1996 until Sydvaranger Gruve AS was established in 2007.

lifespan

BEFORE

THE BEGINNINGIN 1906

TODAYUNTOUCHED NATURE LIVING ON IT’S OWN PRODUCED ENERGY

FINITE RESOURCE CONSUMPTION

CLOSING DOWNin ca. 25 years

KIRKENES

$$$

ownership & politics before

Sydvaranger Gruve AS was established in 2007 to rehabilitate the mining, railroad and manufacturing plants and start production of high-grade iron ore concentrate.The project is fully funded and rehabilitation work is in progress according to plan with the aim of production from the latter half of 2009.Sydvaranger Gruve AS is a wholly owned subsidiary of Norwegian company Northern Iron Ltd., Which is listed in Australia and has Tschudi Shipping as majority owner.

KIRKENES

PRIVAT SHAREHOLDERS$$$

ownership & politics today

fluctuations in production- causes & effects

SALE VALUE OF IRON

GLOBAL COMMUNITY

POLITICS

TECHNOLOGY

FASHION

ECONOMICAL GROWTH

GLOBAL COMMUNITY

LOCAL COMMUNITY

SALE VALUE OF IRON

POLITICS

DESTRUCTION OF NATURE

GLOBAL ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT

CLIMATE CHANGE

ENERGY USE

RESOURCE CONSUMPTION

Today the waste from the mine is dumped in Bøkfjord. Where there is rich fish life.

Waste from the mine has bin dumped around in the region for many years. Witch has an effect on the rich fish life in the rivers around the region.Mine workers are flown in and out

of Kirkenes from all around Norway to work in the mine every second week.

The processing factory before 1996 had an impact on peoples health, animals and nature.

actions & effects

deconstructing the iron mining prosess in Bjørnevatn

DRILL

Drilling is manly carried out by means of Gardner Denver 120 rotary drill producing holes of 12 ¼ and 15 inch diameter.

SHOVEL TRUCK

PRIM CRUSHERWEIGHT

BIN

NON MAGN MATERIAL

RAILWAY 8 KM

SECONDARY CRUSHER

CRUSHER

BIN

BIN

WATER

PUMP

PUMP

PUMP

PUMP

SEC MILL

PRIM MILL WITH CLASSIFERMAGNETIC SEPARATORS

WEIGHT

SCREEN

FLOTATION

ROUGHERCLEANER

SUPERSILO

TAILING

TANK

FILTER

DEWATERING MAGN DRUMS

TANK

MIXER

CONCENTRATE BIN

BENTONITE BIN

MIXER

CONCENTRATE BIN

BALLING DRUM

BURNER

COOLER

WEIGHT

PELLET BIN

Blast charging is done with slurry explosives. Each hole is charged with approximatly 1.3 ton of explosives. Total blast size varies between 75,000 tons and 750,000 tons of material broken, and the equivalent amount of explosives used varies between 30 and 300 tons.

Loading of material is carried out with track mounted P & H electric shovels with 11 and 16m3 bucket capacity.

Ore and waste transport is taken care of by a fleet of 150 tons Lectra Haut and Haulpack trucks.

Primary crushing is done in Bjørnevatn by means of (two) 54” Nordberg gyratory crushers (54” wide intake opening) which is normally set at 5½ closed side, giving ore crushed down to approx. minus 5”.

Ore cobbing is carried out on conveying it over large magnetic drums separating most of the waste (15%-20%) from the ore before it is discharged into the ore storage bin.

This crushes ore is transported by their own railway in 60 tons capacity cars and dumped in large ore bins at their secondary crushing plant. Each train has 20 cars and thus carries approx. 1,200 tons.

Two stage secondary crushing plant uses 7” Symond core crushers and reduces the ore in size to approx. minus 1 inch.

Primary grinding of this material is carried out in two stage ball mill process where water is added as a carrying agent. After this grinding approx. 30% of the material is separated out as waste over seies of magnetic brums. This product or concentrate, is ground further to make it suitable for flotation pelletizing. This concentrate contains approx. 67% Fe (Iron).

Flotation is a <wet prosess> which goes on in series vessels where the mineral particles and water are held in suspension during vigorous stirring. Adding special chemicals and air which are mixed with the particle / water suspension, cnable them to get the material wanted, to be tatched to the air bubble, which goes to the surface where froth is breated and removed from the surface mechanically. The actual mineral is by this method divided from the others.

Pelletizing, a prosess which transformes the concentrate into shape of small ½” diameter, this is carried out by adding approx. 1½ of a binding agent called bentonite. This mixture is rolled in large inclined drums which produce small balls.These are tried over a travelling gate, preheated and sintered (prepared for smelting). The pellets will have a temperature in excess of 1000°C when leaving the grate. From here they enter a rotating oven where they are heated further to approx. 1350°C. The hot pellets are now discharging into a cooler section where they are cooled down to 20 - 30°C by a forced air draught.This product is stored in a large 400,000 tons capacity bin blasted into the mountain.

The harbour in Kirkenes is a good natural harbour which has a little problem with ice winter, in spite of its location at 70°North. The harbour facilities has a capacity for loading ships up to 120,000 tons.

BEFORE 1967



CLIMATE CHANGE ENERGY USE RESOURCE CONSUMPTION

before 1996

DRILL

Drilling is manly carried out by means of Gardner Denver 120 rotary drill producing holes of 12 ¼ and 15 inch diameter.

SHOVEL TRUCK

PRIM CRUSHERWEIGHT

BIN

NON MAGN MATERIAL

RAILWAY 8 KM

SECONDARY CRUSHER

CRUSHER

BIN

BIN

WATER

PUMP

PUMP

PUMP

PUMP

SEC MILL

PRIM MILL WITH CLASSIFERMAGNETIC SEPARATORS

WEIGHT

SCREEN

FLOTATION

ROUGHERCLEANER

SUPERSILO

TAILING

TANK

FILTER

DEWATERING MAGN DRUMS

TANK

MIXER

PELLET BIN

CHINA & EUROPE

Blast charging is done with slurry explosives. Each hole is charged with approximatly 1.3 ton of explosives. Total blast size varies between 75.000 tons and 750.000 tons of material broken, and the equivalent amount of explosives used varies between 30 and 300 tons.

Loading of material is carried out with track mounted P & H electric shovels with 11 and 16m3 bucket capacity.

Ore and waste transport is taken care of by a fleet of 150 tons Lectra Haut and Haulpack trucks.

Primary crushing is done in Bjørnevatn by means of (two) 54” Nordberg gyratory crushers (54” wide intake opening) which is normally set at 5½ closed side, giving ore crushed down to approx. minus 5”.

Ore cobbing is carried out on conveying it over large magnetic drums separating most of the waste (15%-20%) from the ore before it is discharged into the ore storage bin.

This crushes ore is transported by their own railway in 60 tons capacity cars and dumped in large ore bins at their secondary crushing plant. Each train has 20 cars and thus carries approx. 1.200 tons.

Two stage secondary crushing plant uses 7” Symond core crushers and reduces the ore in size to approx. minus 1 inch.

Primary grinding of this material is carried out in two stage ball mill process where water is added as a carrying agent. After this grinding approx. 30% of the material is separated out as waste over seies of magnetic brums. This product or concentrate, is ground further to make it suitable for flotation pelletizing. This concentrate contains approx. 67% Fe (Iron).

Flotation is a <wet prosess> which goes on in series vessels where the mineral particles and water are held in suspension during vigorous stirring. Adding special chemicals and air which are mixed with the particle / water suspension, cnable them to get the material wanted, to be tatched to the air bubble, which goes to the surface where froth is breated and removed from the surface mechanically. The actual mineral is by this method divided from the others.

The harbour in Kirkenes is a good natural harbour which has a little problem with ice winter, in spite of its location at 70°North. The harbour facilities has a capacity for loading ships up to 120.000 tons.

AFTER 2008

Iron is the world's most commonly used metal - steel, of which iron ore is the key ingredient, representing almost 95% of all metal produced per year.It is used primarily in structural engineering applications and in maritime purposes, automobiles, and general industrial applica-tions (machinery).



CLIMATE CHANGE ENERGY USE RESOURCE CONSUMPTION

after 2008

ScheffervilleQuebec

Photos of Schefferville, Quebec: http://www.airphotona.com/image.asp?imageid=6254&catnum=0&catname=All%20Categories&keyword=&country=&state=&pagenum=241

is this the futur of Bjørnevatn?

history of Nikel- birth of the nickel mine

In the Winter War of 1939–1940, the Soviet Union occupied Petsamo. In the following peace agreement only the Finnish part of the Rybachy Peninsula was ceded to the Soviet Union, although the Soviets had occupied all of Petsamo during the war. In summer 1940, the Finnish government took over the mines from the British company. The first mining operations began in the same year. The hydro power plant in Jäniskoski started operations in 1942, making it possible to smelt the ore locally. In 1944, the Red Army occupied Petsamo, and Finland had to cede it to the Soviet Union as part of the Moscow Armistice signed on September 19, 1944. Retreating German forces destroyed the power plant and partially the smelter. On July 21, 1945, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union decreed to establish Pechengsky District with the administrative center in Nikel on the ceded territory and to include this district as a part of Murmansk Oblast.

In the 1920 Treaty of Tartu, Soviet Russia ceded the area of Petsamo to Finland. In the 1930s huge reserves of nickel were found on fells nearby. In 1934, the Finnish Government awarded the mining right to the British Mond Nickel Co, subsidiary of International Nickel Co (Inco), that founded the Petsamon Nikkeli Oy mining company.

The Nikel factory and the mines have been the driving forces of the town of Nikel since the twenties. The factory owners have ignored enviromental ledgislation causing harm to the inhabitants and the enviroment . Yet the people are in dispare that the factory is moving to another town in a few years. The future of Nickel is unclear.

lifespan

BEFORE

THE BEGINNINGIN 1942

TODAY

CLOSING DOWNin ca. 25 years

FINITE RESOURCE CONSUMPTION

UNTOUCHED NATURE LIVING ON IT’S OWN PRODUCED ENERGY

PEOPLE OF NIKEL

$$$

ownership & politics before

In 1994, shares in the company were distributed, in accordance with privatization plans, in part to the workforce and in part for sale by voucher auctions. More than 250,000 people took shares in the company. The control packet of shares (38% of the shares or 51% of the voting shares) was retained as the state property, and in November 1995 was put forward at a mortgaging auction, as a result of which Uneximbank became the nominal holder of the control packet of shares in the RAO Norilsk Nickel.An interesting fact is that Vladimar Putin not only became the leading shareholder in Nordsik Nikel through Oneksimsbank, but also was appointed Financial Minster.

PEOPLE OF NIKEL

PRIVAT SHAREHOLDERS$$$

ownership & politics today

SALE VALUE OF NICKEL ECONOMICAL GROWTH

fluctuations in production- causes & effects

GLOBAL COMMUNITY GLOBAL COMMUNITY

POLITICS LOCAL COMMUNITY

TECHNOLOGY SALE VALUE OF NICKEL

FASHION POLITICS



CLIMATE CHANGE

ENERGY USE


In both 2006 and 2007, Norilk’s operations in Russia featured amongst the world’s top ten most polluted places.

Extreme pollution levels, the processing factory usually deposits its sulfur dioxide fumes to the south of the town where the countryside is a brown moonscape of bald hills, barren of plant life for kilometers around.

In the summertime, the toxic fumes which for the rest of the year rarely blow northwards towards the town, occasionally do just that, making breathing difficult and even burning holes in people’s umbrellasAcid rain.

actions & effects

5000

10000

15000

1970 1979 1988 1999

2008

100,000 tons SO2 emission





Population12,771

Population16,534

Population21,838

Population18,000

In 1982, there was a substantial expansion of the operation for processing ore material from Norilsk.

decreasing population

PEOPLE LIVING IN NIKEL = 12,771

LIFE EXPECTANCY OF MEN = 56

Inhaling sulfur dioxide (SO2) is associated with increased respiratory symptoms and disease, di�culty in breathing, and premature death

1970 1979 1988 1999

2008






More than 80% of the world’s nickel production is used in alloys. When alloyed with other elements nickel imparts toughness, strength, resistance to corrosion, and various other electrical, magnetic and heat resistant properties. At least 3000 nickel alloys have been identified. About 60% of world nickel output is used in the manufacture of stainless steel. When nickel is added to stainless steels (a group of iron-based alloys containing chromium, carbon and other elements) their corrosion resistance and strength is considerably increased. Stainless steels containing nickel are therefore widely used in the chemical industry, consumer products (e.g. sinks, cooking utensils and cutlery), motor vehicles and construction.

A large number of other steels also contain nickel, particularly structural alloy steels used in pipelines, aircraft, vehicles and building. Many alloys, usually containing more than 50% nickel, have been developed for high temperature strength in aircraft gas turbines and jet engines. Nickel is an important constituent also of non-ferrous alloys used in corrosion-resistant fastenings, water pumps and shafts, and pipelines to carry seawater. Nickel has been widely used in coinage since 1860, when Belgium started minting coins comprising 75% copper and 25% nickel. Nickel is used also for electroplating, catalysing the addition of hydrogen to natural oils, (converting the oils into solids which can be used in soap and margarine) and in nickel-cadmium and nickel-iron storage batteries.

what is nickel (Ni) used in?

Happy Valley, Greater Sudbury, Ontario

Happy Valley is a ghost town in the city of Greater Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. The community was first inhabited in 1906 by workers from the nearby mine at Garson. In 1930, the Garson Mine shut down, and the workers were transferred to the mines at Falconbridge. By then, Falconbridge Nickel Mines was removing 250 tonnes of ore a day. To process the ore, a smeltering plant was constructed which began operating in 1932. Due to temperature inversions, the smelter at Falconbridge created severe pollution problems in Happy Valley, as heavy sulphur emissions from the smelter would become trapped in the valley. The lush trees, which filled the valley, died. For years, workers suspected that they were being poisoned by pollution, and these fears were confirmed in the 60s and 70s as society grew more environment-conscious. For several years, the community reached a deal with Falconbridge that the smelter would not operate on days when a north wind was blowing. This arrangement worked well until the war began. With the war, the mine was in demand to produce precious metal. This meant they had to smelt no matter what wind conditions were. By 1970, the town was essentially abandoned. From 1973 to 2000, the Happy Valley site was part of the town of Nickel Centre, in the Regional Municipality of Sudbury. On January 1, 2001, the Regional Municipality was dissolved into the single-tier City of Greater Sudbury. The area is fenced and off-limits to the public

is this the futur of Nikel?

IS NIKEL STILL THE BIGGEST ENVIROMENTAL PROBLEM OF NORWAY?

NORWAY RUSSIA

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RUSSIA

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Nikel is an urban locality 7 kilometers from the Norwegian border.

< Da den norsk-sovjetiske miljøvernkommisjonen ble etablert i 1988, var forurensingen fra nikkelverket i Petsjenga ved den norsk-sovjetiske grensen den viktigste enkeltsaken. Mye arbeid har siden den gang blitt nedlagt for å begrense utslippene. I 1990 erklærte statsminister Jan P. Syse med brask og bram at norske myndigheter ville støtte en ombyg- ging av nikkelverket med 300 millioner kroner. I statsbudsjettet for 2009, 18 år senere, sies det at det ser ”no ut til at modernisering av smelteverket i Nikel ikkje lenger er aktuelt”. >

- Lars Rowe, Forsker. Flidtjof Nansens Instituttfra tidskriftet: Fortid. nr.4 2008.

Bjørnevatn

comparing Bjornevatn & Nikel- ecological footprint & destruction of nature

Nikel

Bjørnevatn



CLIMATE CHANGE

ENERGY USE


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The main aim for the future should be the development of a new environmental policy in Russia which will put responsible environmental stewardship as a major goal for the future. At present, Russia’s environmental standards fall well below those of the European Union.

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shutdown of Bjornevatn & Nikel- what happens to the landscape and the dead bodies of the mining industry?

Is these mining industrys important part of the history?

Would it be favorable to keep them in the landscape to remind us and generations to come what did destroy the land?

Will the vegetation grow back, is not... what then?

Waht can we do to get the vegetation to grow back?

Is it possible to reuse these infrastructures?

What kind of an impact will it have on the community and the people living there?

Education

taking a closer look at the mining process in Bjørnevatn & Nikel