Full overview of Barents mining

Patchwork Barents has compiled production data from all the main industrial sectors in the Barents Region, including both the Nordic and Northwest Russian areas. Among the data series now available are figures on iron ore, nickel, apatite, diamonds, coal, copper, silver and gold.

«Mining and metallurgy are driving forces in the Barents regional economies, and we want to keep the pulse on the industry», project manager Liza Vassilieva says. She has been assembling open data on the regional industrial output ranging from the Komi Republic in the east to Nordland County in the west.

«Industrial production figures from the region show a substantial increase in activities in several counties on the Nordic side, while the situation on the Russian side is dominated by a handful of major companies upholding a stable production level», Vassilieva says.

Among the Patchwork Barents sources are both national statistical agencies and the extracting industries themselves. The data is openly available and free of charge to the public. They are all displayed in graphic maps and charts, embeddable in users' personal websites and blogs. Registered users can also use the available data to make their own exclusive visualizations.

«Our main objective with this project is to enhance knowledge and understanding of social and economic processes in the Barents Region», Liza Vassilieva underlines.

«We live in an Arctic region which is undergoing quick change following processes like climate change and expansive industrial development, and we need to stay updated on trends and developments,» she adds.

The project is a joint initiative of the Norwegian Barents Secretariat and the Jefferson Institute.

The data portal also includes a wide range of other social and economic data, among them on demography, health, infrastructure, energy and nature. Many of the data series stretches back to the early 1990s.