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Ny-Ålesund ("New Ålesund") is a small town in Oscar II Land on the island of Spitsbergen in Svalbard, Norway. It is situated on the Brøgger peninsula (Brøggerhalvøya) and on the shore of the bay of Kongsfjorden. The company town is owned and operated by Kings Bay, which provides facilities for permanent research activities by 19 institutions from 11 countries. The town is ultimately owned by the Ministry of Climate and Environment and is not incorporated (i.e. is not recognised as a town by the Norwegian government). Ny-Ålesund has an all-year permanent population of 30 to 35, with the summer population reaching 114. Its facilities include Ny-Ålesund Airport, Hamnerabben, Svalbard Rocket Range, a port and Ny-Ålesund Town and Mine Museum, as well as a number of buildings dedicated to research and environmental monitoring activities. It is the northernmost functional civilian settlement in the world. The town was founded in 1917 by Peter Brandal and his mining company, Kings Bay Kull Comp. Initially mining was carried out until 1929, but it was unprofitable for most of the 1920s. There were a series of air expeditions launched from Ny-Ålesund towards the North Pole. The company was nationalized in 1933 and the town was used for tourism and as a fishing port. Mining resumed for some months in 1941 and then from 1945. After several fatal incidents occurred including a mining accident on 5 November 1962 that killed 21 miners in what became known as the Kings Bay Affair, mining activity was terminated and Gerhardsen's Third Cabinet resigned. Kongsfjord Telemetry Station opened in 1967 and the town gradually transformed into a research settlement, with the Norwegian Polar Institute having had a year-round presence since 1968. As of 2021, 18 institutions from 11 countries have a more or less permanent presence in Ny-Ålesund – five of them with year-round activity, the remaining primarily present during the spring-summer-autumn field season. [edit] History
The coal deposits at Kongsfjorden were first discovered by Jonas Poole during a whaling expedition in the area in 1610. They did not receive more careful analysis until 1861, when Christian Wilhelm Blomstrand carried out surveys. A Swedish expedition looked into the coal in 1870 and in 1901 Bergen–Spitsbergen Kulgrubekompani laid claims to the deposits. Failing to follow up, Ernest Mansfield occupied claims in 1905 and 1906, which were sold to The Northern Exploration Co. Ltd. in 1910. The first test shaft was built in 1909, followed by a hut in 1912. The claims were sold to Peter Brandal of Ålesund in 1916, who dispatched two ships and sixty men to Kings Bay for the summer of 1916. Arriving on 21 July, they immediately started breaking surface coal. Kings Bay Kull Comp. was founded on 14 December 1916. Thirty people were sent to Kings Bay for the 1917 season, and started construction of a town. By winter buildings, mines, a port and a railway were completed.
The Geophysical Institute of Tromsø established a geophysical station at Kvadehuken in 1920, although it only remained in operation until 1924. Production rose through the 1920, reaching a peak 99,000 tonnes per year. Coal liquefaction was attempted from 1924 to 1927, but proved unprofitable. The labor union, Kings Bay Arbeiderforening, was founded in 1925, although many of the workers had previously ad hoc organized themselves. In 1919 Northern Exploration Company laid pressed that they had claims on Blomstrandhalvøya. The case ended with the Government of Norway buying their claims in 1925, parts of which were sold to Kings Bay.
The first fatal mining accident took place in the Ester Mine on 16 December 1926, killing two miners. Gradually a series of smaller accidents took place. The company's lack of profitability caused the government to cease subsidies from 1929. A small guard and maintenance crew was kept in Ny-Ålesund in the following years. As of 1929 Kings Bay owed NOK 18.6 million to the state and Aalesunds Kreditbank. Thus the state nationalized the company, taking effect on 23 December 1933.[1] A fisheries station opened in 1935, which sold supplies to fishing vessels and carried out steaming of cod liver oil and salting of the cod. As the station was in need of subsidies, it was closed after two years. From 1936 a hotel service targeting tourists opened. Its most elaborate building, Nordpolhotellet, opened on 3 September 1939, although the town was abandoned just days later because of the outbreak of the Second World War. However, this spurred a Norwegian demand for coal, and the town was resettled on 7 May 1941. However, the entire island was evacuated on 29 August, with critical infrastructure blown up.
In 1956 Parliament approved a major upgrade to the mining facilities, which would cost NOK 20 million, in the hope that production could reach 200,000 tonnes. In 1956 two brothers, Einar Sverre and Gunnar Sverre Pedersen, through their company Norsk Polar Navigasjon, proposed that an airport be built at Kvadehussletta, on the outer-most point of Brøggerhalvøya. It was met by opposition from both Norwegian and Soviet authorities and no permits were granted, even though they pursued the case for a decade. By 1959 Ester I was depleted and the railway was closed—transport having been taken over by trucks, and production remained low during the late 1950s. An explosion on 5 November 1962 killed 21 miners. Two investigations were carried out and the issue became a heated political debate. In what became the Kings Bay Affair, Gerhardsen's Third Cabinet was ultimately forced to resign in August 1963, and all mining in Ny-Ålesund was terminated from 5 November 1963. For the meanwhile, Kings Bay was to retain the equipment and facilities in case later technological development would allow for safer mining operations. The first research establishment came in 1967, when Kongsfjord Telemetry Station was opened to communicate with the European Space Research Organization's satellites. The Royal Norwegian Council for Scientific and Industrial Research took over daily management of Ny-Ålesund until the telemetry station was closed in 1974. The station resulted in the construction of Ny-Ålesund Airport, Hamnerabben, and resulted in about thirty employees.
Construction of the Zeppelin Station commenced in 1988[2] and in 1990 Kings Bay moved its administration from Oslo to Ny-Ålesund. From 1992 the government allowed international research institutions to establish stations in Ny-Ålesund, and thus several institutes built stations the early 1990s. This was matched by Kings Bay, who invested in increased capacity, including dorms, a new dock and better communications. By 1996 there were over one hundred research projects in Ny-Ålesund. [edit] Research Tips
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