Långban is a

mining Mining is the Resource extraction, extraction of valuable geological materials and minerals from the surface of the Earth. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agriculture, agricultural processes, or feasib ...

area in

Värmland Värmland () is a ''Provinces of Sweden, landskap'' (historical province) in west-central Sweden. It borders Västergötland, Dalsland, Dalarna, Västmanland, and Närke, and is bounded by Norway in the west. Name Several Latinized version ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. It belongs to

Filipstad Municipality Filipstad Municipality () is a municipality in Värmland County in west central Sweden. Its seat is located in the city of Filipstad. The present municipality was created in 1971 when the City of Filipstad was merged with the rural municipalities ...

, with the nearest city being

Filipstad Filipstad is a Urban areas in Sweden, locality and the seat of Filipstad Municipality, Värmland County, Sweden, with 10,644 inhabitants in 2019. Filipstad was granted city privileges in 1611 by Charles IX of Sweden, who named it after his son Ch ...

, 21 km south. It was systematically mined through 1711–1972, but has traces from the 15th century. It is the birthplace of Swedish-American inventor

John Ericsson John Ericsson (born Johan Ericsson; July 31, 1803 – March 8, 1889) was a Swedish-American engineer and inventor. He was active in England and the United States. Ericsson collaborated on the design of the railroad steam locomotive Novelty (lo ...

and his brother

Nils Ericson ''Friherre'' Nils Ericson (born Nils Ericsson; 31 January 1802 – 8 September 1870) was a Swedish mechanical engineer who built canals and railways in Sweden. His younger brother John Ericsson, who emigrated first to England and then the U ...

. It has been described as one of the most mineral-rich places in the world. The first discovery of native lead was in the Långban District in the late nineteenth century. Over 270 different minerals have been identified in the area and more than 60 of these have Långban as type locality. Most mining was done for

iron ore 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 f ...

and

manganese ore Manganese is a chemical element; it has symbol Mn and atomic number 25. It is a hard, brittle, silvery metal, often found in minerals in combination with iron. Manganese was first isolated in the 1770s. It is a transition metal with a multifac ...

, but in total, 300 minerals have been found. After 1950, only dolomite was extracted.

Långbanshyttan

Långbanshyttan is the name of an adjacent

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 supplied above atmospheric pressure. In a ...

and adjacent house of the factory manager, where the brothers Nils and

were born. The furnace was built in the 16th century, and used until 1933. It was renovated 1980-83 and is today a tourist attraction.

Gallery

File:Långban.jpg, Conditioning facility und new shaft in the ore mine File:Laangban Karte.JPG, Map of the pit File:Cucumber-Långbanshyttan.jpg, Smelting furnace File:Memorial John Ericsson.jpg, Birth house of

with memorial stone

External links

Långban
an

from

Nordisk familjebok (, 'Nordic Family Book') is a Swedish language, Swedish encyclopedia that was published in print from between 1876 and 1993, and that is now fully available in digital form via Project Runeberg at Linköping University. The public domain edit ...

Langban
at Mindat.org, List of minerals at Langban.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Langban Populated places in Värmland County Geological type localities Filipstad Municipality