PhD Student Network Workshop 2024 - Day 1

PhD Student Network workshop in Bergslagen on the theme: Balancing cultural heritage, resource extraction and environmental values in historic mining areas.

Day 1 - The first stop was the R&D Hub for battery and cell development projects, Northvolt, outside Västerås. Thank you to our guides Eduard Marti Bigorra and Nathália Vieceli that walked us through the Revolt Pilot Plant. They broke ground in 2018, online by 2019 and has grown to over 1100 employees from over 85 nationalities. How cool is that! Sala Silvergruva was the next stop and we started with a history lesson with Niklas Ulfvebrand who told us about the historic mine as a modern tourist attraction.

Our guide and Network Manager Nils Jansson took us down to 60 meters depth and we got to know more about the rich and exciting history of Sala Silvergruva. Erik Lundstam, Alicanto Labs, talked about Restarting the mines – a modern exploration. The visit to Sala ended with Michael Nilsson from Sala kommun talking about preserving and securing the area by reducing pollution in the watercourses of Sala Silvergruva and Pråmån.

The network aims to organize two events per year with different themes, in different locations around Sweden or internationally. One of the network's goals is to be a platform for the PhD students where they not only get an insight into the industry but also for networking, be inspired by each other and learn from peers, and open up for other opportunities.