The Sør-Varanger municipality situated along the Norwegian-Russian border has 9500 inhabitants and practically no unemployment. Therefore, many thought it would be difficult for the mine operator to find enough miners for the reopening mine. The decision to reopen the mines was made in 2007. However, with more than 1000 applicants to choose among, the mining company is likely to have no problem finding skilled workers.
The majority of applicants are from Norway, but there are also a significant number from the other Nordic countries and a few from other European countries. There are also some applicants from Australia and South-Africa on Sydvarangers list of possible mine workers.
Per Helge Høgaas in Sydvaranger Mine says to local Newspaper Finnmarken that the financial crisis in the global industry in combination with massive media attention all over Norway on their plans, may be the main reason why there has been such good response on the company’s work announcement. Over the last months there have been several newspaper articles and TV reports regarding the plans in all of Norway’s largest medias.
Sydvaranger will not engage 350 workers from the start. The number of needed workers for the first phase of production is not yet not decided. Surprisingly few of the applicants are from the local area, and this will create and even bigger pressure in the community where there already is a major housing shortage.
