Co-producing ores, science and states: high arctic mining at Svalbard (Norway) and Nanisivik (Canada)

Abstract

Though much media and academic attention has been paid to recent Arctic resource development projects such as the Mary River project on Baffin Island (Canada), the extraction of resources from circumpolar regions is not a new phenomenon. In fact enclaves in the Arctic have been industrialized (and in some cases, deindustrialized) for some time now, and these operations have been no less intertwined in historical and contemporary Arctic geopolitics. Through an analysis of historical and contemporary documents complemented by key-informant interviews, this thesis presents historical-geographical research on two case studies - Svalbard (Norway) and Nanisivik (Canada) that provide valuable insight into the political economies of extractive activities in the Arctic. This thesis argues that the mines at Svalbard and Nanisivik were not simply economic projects intended to produce valuable ores, but were "co-productive" in the sense that they reproduced state territory and fulfilled political, geopolitical or geostrategic objectives. Furthermore, this thesis suggests that the operation of these mines was not characterised by a productive phase followed by a closure phase, but other activities such as scientific research have revalorized these mining landscapes, owing to the geographical, geostrategic and environmental importance of these Arctic sites.