The mining resource cycle and settlement demography in Malå, Northern Sweden

Abstract

Research on the demographic impacts of mining in sparsely populated areas has focused primarily on relatively large towns. Less attention has been paid to smaller villages, which may experience different impacts because of their highly concentrated economies and their small populations, making them more vulnerable to demographic “boom and bust” effects. This paper examines demographic change in four small villages in northern Sweden, which are located close to several mining projects but have evolved through different degrees of integration with or separation from mining. Using a longitudinal “resource cycle” perspective, the demographic trajectories of the villages are compared to understand how different types of settlement and engagement with mining have led to different demographic outcomes in the long term. While the four villages experienced similar trajectories in terms of overall population growth and decline, their experiences in relation to more nuanced indicators, including age and gender distributions and population mobilities, were different, and potential reasons for this are discussed. Due to data limitations, however, the long-term demographic consequences of mining for local Sami people remain unclear. The paper problematises this research gap in light of general concerns about mining impacts on traditional Sami livelihoods.

Temporal risk assessment – 20th century Pb emissions to air and exposure via inhalation in the Swedish glass district

“…Both the public and service sectors were centralized in Sweden during the 1980s, and this led to people moving from rural to urban areas (Hedlund and Lundholm, 2015). The same trend in decreased rural populations at this time was also seen in, for example, mining villages in northern Sweden (Carson et al, 2020), and in many other countries too, for example in Ireland (Cawley, 1994), Australia (Carson et al, 2016), France (Laménie, 2016), and the USA (Johnson and Lichter, 2019).…”

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“…In his work on hinterland economic conditions, David Leadbeater (2009) argued that conditions have changed fundamentally and adversely since the 1970s, particularly in single-industry mining communities. This has led to a "new crisis of hinterland economic development" (Leadbeater, 2009: 90), where population shrinkage is tied to the fact that gains of productivity are being exported, and mining communities and labor are receiving diminished benefits from resource development (Lawrie, Tonts, & Plummer, 2011;Markey et al, 2019;Carson, Nilsson, & Carson, 2020). A redistribution of power toward communities and labor with community mobilization is needed to mitigate and counteract this trend, Leadbeater argued.…”

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“…In his work on hinterland economic conditions, David Leadbeater (2009) argued that conditions have changed fundamentally and adversely since the 1970s, particularly in single-industry mining communities. This has led to a "new crisis of hinterland economic development" (Leadbeater, 2009: 90), where population shrinkage is tied to the fact that gains of productivity are being exported, and mining communities and labor are receiving diminished benefits from resource development (Lawrie, Tonts, & Plummer, 2011;Markey et al, 2019;Carson, Nilsson, & Carson, 2020). A redistribution of power toward communities and labor with community mobilization is needed to mitigate and counteract this trend, Leadbeater argued.…”