[Ginden]

Mining in Arctic is a technical nightmare. Typical alloys become brittle in these temperatures, darkness severely limits operations and/or workplace accidents, transport requires ice-breakers, permafrost is fundamentally unstable (heat from buildings melts it, causing sinking), and you need to pay people a lot to work there.

[ChoGGi]

I wouldn't be too worried, ICE is collecting the workforce as we speak.

[mothballed]

This is unironically the plan some Norwegian politicians came up with. They were thinking about sending asylum seekers and/or difficult to eject immigrants to Svalbard.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/norwegian-po...