I’ve been getting email from readers frustrated by the many Nobel stories I started to tell but never found time to finish. One person called it “blogus interruptus.”
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For example, I started several times to blog about Kiruna but never got much past telling you that it has as many space scientists as reindeer herders (about 500 of each).
On December 17, Frank and I spent the morning with Sverker Fredriksson and Ingrid Sandahl visiting the huge LKAB iron mine, which employs another 2,000 of Kiruna’s 24,000 non-space-scientists and non-reindeer-herders. |
Here are a few LKAB facts I jotted down:
- You could build 12 new Eiffel towers every day with the iron ore dug up at LKAB.
- Every night around 2 a.m., the mine does its blasting–which makes the town of Kiruna vibrate slightly.
- Iron ore is easier to ship and grade if you process it into uniform pellets.
- LKAB backs up its goals (quality and safety) by paying company-wide bonuses based on how well the goals are met.
- People who work in LKAB mine agree that theirs are the best jobs in the best company in the best town in the world.
That last item, however, seemed pretty widespread among people in Kiruna. I just hope space scientists and reindeer herders don’t ever get into fights with the people of LKAB about who does, in fact, have the best job ever.