Sweden reports its biggest ever quake caused by mining in Arctic

The town and mine of Kiruna, Sweden. Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Sweden reported its biggest ever earthquake caused by mining on Monday at an iron ore mine north of the Arctic Circle run by state firm LKAB.

The quake measured magnitude 4.1, the Department of Earth Sciences at Uppsala University said.

Noone was injured, Swedish media reported.

The more than a century old Kiruna mine, the world’s biggest underground iron ore mine, produced 14.7 Mt of iron ore products in 2019.

It has been closed until further notice, LKAB said on Facebook.

It was decided in 2004 for safety reasons to gradually move Kiruna’s inner city three kilometres to the east.

(By Anna Ringstrom; Editing by Jason Neely)

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