Rällingsberg mining area (

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 ...

: ''Rällingsbergs gruvor'') is an area with four defunct

iron mine Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in color from dark grey, bright yellow, or deep purple to rusty red. The iron is usually found in the for ...

s outside the community of

Långshyttan Långshyttan is a locality situated in Hedemora Municipality, Dalarna County, Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of ...

in the parish of Husby in

Hedemora Municipality Hedemora Municipality (''Hedemora kommun'') is a municipality in Dalarna County in central Sweden. Its seat is in the city of Hedemora. In 1966 the ''City of Hedemora'' was amalgamated with the rural municipality by the same name and with ''Husby ...

Dalarna County Dalarna County ( sv, Dalarnas län) is a county or '' län'' in central Sweden (Svealand). It borders on the counties of Uppsala, Jämtland, Gävleborg, Västmanland, Örebro and Värmland. It also borders on the Norwegian counties of Hedmark ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

. The former mining area now forms part of the Husbyringen nature and culture trail.

History

The mining field was discovered in 1841 by

farmworker A farmworker, farmhand or agricultural worker is someone employed for labor in agriculture. In labor law, the term "farmworker" is sometimes used more narrowly, applying only to a hired worker involved in agricultural production, including harv ...

, Clas Westerholm. With a borrowed mining

compass A compass is a device that shows the cardinal directions used for navigation and geographic orientation. It commonly consists of a magnetized needle or other element, such as a compass card or compass rose, which can pivot to align itself with ...

he found a widespread

magnetic field A magnetic field is a vector field that describes the magnetic influence on moving electric charges, electric currents, and magnetic materials. A moving charge in a magnetic field experiences a force perpendicular to its own velocity and to ...

east of Lake Rällingen near a piece of farmland called ''Gruvvreten'' (''swedish for mining field''). He got his claim registered January 30, 1841 and became half-owner of the prospect together with the owner of Kloster's Mill (''Klosters bruk''). In June the same year a contract was made on mining in what was to become ''Rällingsbergsgruvan''. After six years Westerholm was bought out of the mine for 8 000 kronor, but about 35 years later a second payment was made of the sum 5 000 kronor, since he had spent all his money and was rendered poor. In 1871 the owners of the ironworks started the stock company Klosters AB and in 1892 ''Rällingsbergs gruvaktiebolag'' was formed as a

daughter company A subsidiary, subsidiary company or daughter company is a company (law), company owned or controlled by another company, which is called the parent company or holding company. Two or more subsidiaries that either belong to the same parent company ...

. Klosters AB established a narrow-track railway in 1891 for its cargo between the use at Långshyttan and Stjernsund. The ore in the mine had a high quantity of

manganese Manganese is a chemical element with the symbol Mn and atomic number 25. It is a hard, brittle, silvery metal, often found in minerals in combination with iron. Manganese is a transition metal with a multifaceted array of industrial alloy use ...

and was suitable for bessemer iron that was produced in the new

blast furnace A blast furnace is a type of metallurgical furnace used for smelting to produce industrial metals, generally pig iron, but also others such as lead or copper. ''Blast'' refers to the combustion air being "forced" or supplied above atmospheric ...

at Klosterverken in Långshyttan (''Klosterverken Långshyttan'') from 1861 (with an interruption 1864–1868). To have access to its own ore reduced the cost of the company at Kloster considerably, partly compensating for the lack of own

charcoal Charcoal is a lightweight black carbon residue produced by strongly heating wood (or other animal and plant materials) in minimal oxygen to remove all water and volatile constituents. In the traditional version of this pyrolysis process, cal ...

. Rällingsberg mine received electric power from 1918. The mines were run until 1932.

Husbyringen

Husbyringen was opened in 1970 by the Husbyrgen Foundation (''Stiftelsen Husbyringen'' and claims to be Sweden's first

ecomuseum An ecomuseum is a museum focused on the identity of a place, largely based on local participation and aiming to enhance the welfare and development of local community, local communities. Ecomuseums originated in France, the concept being develope ...

. Around the 6 km long nature and cultural trail are 30 attractions related to the Rällingsberg mining area, Kloster ironworks and Långshyttan ironworks. Today, the former dynamite house, mining house, machine shop, sorting house, and electric transformer substation remain at the site.

Gallery

Rällingsbergs gruva hist bild 1.jpg, Rällingsberg mine in operation Rällingsbergs gruva hist bild 3.jpg, The open-pit "Stora stöten" Rällingsbergs gruva hist bild 2.jpg, Rällingsberg mine work team Rällingsbergs gruva gruvhål 2015.jpg, "Stora stöten" filled with water (2015) Rällingsbergs gruvor May 2015 01.jpg, Former electrical transformer substation (2015) Rällingsbergs gruvor 2014-07-06 dynamohuset 02.jpg, Former dynamite house (2014) Rällingsbergs gruvor 2014-07-06 skrädhuset.jpg, Former sorting house (2014)

References

*Jan Stagenmark; Kurt Östlund; Jan-Olof Carlsson (1992
''Rällingsbergs Gruva. 1842 - 1932 Historisk Tillbakablick''
(Långshyttan)

External links

Husbyringen website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rallingsberg mining area Tourist attractions in Dalarna County Iron mines in Sweden Former mines in Sweden