Nils Persson (January 20, 1836 – April 28, 1916) was a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

consul Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states throu ...

, businessman, and politician from

Helsingborg Helsingborg (, , , ) is a city and the seat of Helsingborg Municipality, Scania (Skåne), Sweden. It is the second-largest city in Scania (after Malmö) and ninth-largest in Sweden, with a population of 113,816 (2020). Helsingborg is the cent ...

. Persson was born in Allerum, Sweden. He started his career as a fifteen-year-old in 1851, as a shop assistant in a store run by his uncle. In 1860 he opened his own business, where he imported and sold guano for use in fertilizers. The operation went well, and from 1872 to 1875 he ran the company ''Nils Persson's guano-svavvelsyrefabrik'' (Nils Persson's Guano–Sulfuric Acid Factory) in Helsingborg. In 1875 he became the director and chairman of the company ''Skånska superfosfat- og svafvelsyrefabrik AB'' (Skåne Superphosphate and Sulfuric Acid Factory, now part of

Kemira Kemira Oyj () is a global chemicals company serving customers in water intensive industries. Kemira has two main segments, Pulp & Paper and Industry & Water. Kemira is headquartered in Helsinki, Finland. In 2019, Kemira had annual revenue of aro ...

), also in Helsingborg. For this he needed phosphate and sulfuric acid. In the beginning, the phosphorus was obtained from fossil bones, but soon he started imported phosphorus from Florida and North Africa. In 1887, Persson started the company Sulitjelma Mines in

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 the ...

, where he extracted pyrite. The ore in

Sulitjelma , , or is a village in the municipality of Fauske in Nordland county, Norway. Sulitjelma is situated in a lush inland valley at an elevation of above sea level. It is located on the shore of Langvatnet lake, about southeast of the town of Fa ...

was also rich in copper, which resulted in him co-founding the Helsingborg Copper Works (''Helsingborgs Kobarverk AB'') in 1900 together with a sulfuric acid plant. In Norway, he also mined iron ore. In 1901, he sold his rights in the Dunderland Valley to the Edison Ore-Milling Syndicate Limited. The sale price was reported to be NOK 3 million, which was partly transferred in the form of bonds in the company. Persson was requested to become the "consulting director" of the company, owned by 55 stakeholders, of whom 52 were English. The Edison Ore-Milling Syndicate had been created to exploit a method invented by

Thomas Edison Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847October 18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. These inventi ...

. The new method involved processing the iron ore with an electromagnetic separator, resulting in iron concentrates, which were then used to produce pig iron and steel. In 1903, Persson, together with the engineer Alfred Hasselbom, discovered and acquired the rights to the ore deposits at Salangen in

Troms Troms (; se, Romsa; fkv, Tromssa; fi, Tromssa) is a former county in northern Norway. On 1 January 2020 it was merged with the neighboring Finnmark county to create the new Troms og Finnmark county. This merger is expected to be reversed by t ...

county. In 1906, Persson sold his rights in Salangen to two German companies. In 1907, the company Salangen Mining Limited (''Salangen Bergverksaktiebolag'') started up the Salang Works (''Salangsverket''), which were closed down in 1912 after a short but busy period of operation. Persson was criticized by some Norwegians for his profitable business in Norway. By a royal decree of October 28, 1907, he and the Røstvangen Company Ltd. (''Aktieselskabet Røstvangen'') were refused their joint application for a license to acquire mining rights at the Røstvangen deposits in

Hedmark Hedmark () was a county in Norway before 1 January 2020, bordering Trøndelag to the north, Oppland to the west, Akershus to the south, and Sweden to the east. The county administration is in Hamar. Hedmark and Oppland counties were merged int ...

, in the same area where the Røstvangen Mines had been established in 1904. From 1875 to 1903, Persson served as the vice-consul for the Netherlands. From 1894 to 1911 he was the German consul in Helsingborg. Persson died in Helsingborg.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Persson, Nils Swedish businesspeople Consuls-general of Sweden People from Helsingborg Municipality 1836 births 1916 deaths