Gruve 7 leaves its dark mark on the landscape
Coal mining has long been a major industry on Svalbard, and many of the buildings in Longyearbyen have a mining history [the artist residency building was originally used as the miners’ store]. All historical mining structures and artifacts are protected as culturally significant.
With Norway's push for greener credentials [let's not talk oil and deep sea mining] and to cut emissions in a heating arctic, Norwegian coal mining on Svalbard is being phased out. There is now only one operational mine left – Gruve 7 (mine 7).
But it still has a presence.
The road to the mine cuts an obvious path up the hill, coal dust spills out onto the snow leaving a dark smudge on the landscape, and trucks rumble from the mine to the port with great regularity.
The curiously beautiful mining structure of the old coal cable car centre – Taubanesentrale.
Abandoned mine in Adventdalen
Coal deposit in the port of Longyearbyen