Løkken Verk (sometimes just called Løkken) is a village in the municipality of

Orkland Orkland is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Orkdalen. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Orkang ...

Trøndelag Trøndelag (; sma, Trööndelage) is a county in the central part of Norway. It was created in 1687, then named Trondhjem County ( no, Trondhjems Amt); in 1804 the county was split into Nord-Trøndelag and Sør-Trøndelag by the King of Denmar ...

county,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

. It is located south of the village of

Svorkmo Svorkmo is a village in the municipality of Orkland in Trøndelag county, Norway. It is situated in the Orkdalen valley along the river Orkla about west-southwest of the city of Trondheim. Svorkmo is located about south of the village of Vormst ...

, east of the village of

Bjørnli Bjørnli is a village in the municipality of Orkland in Trøndelag county, Norway. It is located just east of the Orkla River about west of the village of Løkken Verk and about northeast of the village of Storås. The Løkken Church is locate ...

, and north of the municipal center of

Meldal Meldal is a former municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1838 until its dissolution in 2020 when it joined Orkland Municipality. It was part of the Orkdalen region. The administrative centre of the municipali ...

. The village has a population (2018) of 1,292 and a

population density Population density (in agriculture: standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical term.Matt RosenberPopul ...

of .

History

Løkken Verk was originally populated when the Løkken Mine started

mining Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic via ...

for

copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...

in 1654. The name comes from a farm at the place. The ore findings at Løkken Verk were originally about , and was the largest resource of

copper sulfide Copper sulfides describe a family of chemical compounds and minerals with the formula CuxSy. Both minerals and synthetic materials comprise these compounds. Some copper sulfides are economically important ores. Prominent copper sulfide mineral ...

in Norway. There was mining at Løkken from 1654 until 1987. Prior to 1845, the target was copper that was

smelted Smelting is a process of applying heat to ore, to extract a base metal. It is a form of extractive metallurgy. It is used to extract many metals from their ores, including silver, iron, copper, and other base metals. Smelting uses heat and a c ...

, but in 1851 the mine transferred into mining

pyrites The mineral pyrite (), or iron pyrite, also known as fool's gold, is an iron sulfide with the chemical formula Fe S2 (iron (II) disulfide). Pyrite is the most abundant sulfide mineral. Pyrite's metallic luster and pale brass-yellow hue ...

that were exported, primarily as raw material for

sulfuric acid Sulfuric acid (American spelling and the preferred IUPAC name) or sulphuric acid ( Commonwealth spelling), known in antiquity as oil of vitriol, is a mineral acid composed of the elements sulfur, oxygen and hydrogen, with the molecular formu ...

. From 1931 until 1962,

sulfur Sulfur (or sulphur in British English) is a chemical element with the symbol S and atomic number 16. It is abundant, multivalent and nonmetallic. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms form cyclic octatomic molecules with a chemical formula ...

and

were produced at Orkla Metal in

Thamshavn Thamshavn or Thamshamn is a small port village in the municipality of Orkland in Trøndelag county, Norway. It is the site of the port for the town of Orkanger and the ferrosilicon plant Elkem Thamshavn. It is located right along European route ...

. The history of the mining is preserved at Orkla Industrial Museum at Løkken Verk. In 1904, the mining operation was taken over by

Christian Thams Christian Thams (9 September 1867 – 22 May 1948) was a Norwegian architect, industrialist, businessman and diplomat. Thams was also a founder and major shareholder of Société du Madal, a Norwegian company which operated coconut oil plantations ...

and Orkla Grube-Aktiebolag, this group has evolved into the

Forbes 500 The ''Forbes'' 500 was an annual listing of the top 500 American companies, produced by ''Forbes'' magazine. The list was calculated by combining five factors: sales, profits, assets, market value, and employees. The list was last issued in March ...

-company

Orkla Group Orkla ASA is a Norwegian conglomerate operating in the Nordic region, Eastern Europe, Asia and the US. At present, Orkla operates in the branded consumer goods, aluminium solutions and financial investment sectors. Orkla ASA is listed on the Os ...

. At the same time, the Thamshavnbanen railway was built between Løkken Verk and

(just north of

Orkanger Orkanger is a town and the administrative centre of Orkland municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. The town is also a former municipality which existed from 1920 until 1963. The town sits at the end of the Orkdal Fjord, an arm of the Trondhe ...

) to transport the pyrites to the port.

References

External links

Orkla Industrial MuseumLokken Verk
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lokken Verk Villages in Trøndelag Orkland