History of Falun Mine

The eighth century AD

The history of mining in Falun begins in the Iron Age. There was almost certainly mining in the eighth century, and there are indications that the mine could be even older. The earliest extant document about the mine dates from 1288, recording how Bishop Peter of Västerås acquired an eighth share of Kopparberget, then called Tiskasjöberg.

Charter of 1347

King Magnus Eriksson’s charter to the yeoman miners in 1347 confirms earlier charters and contains detailed rules for how the work at Kopparberget was to be done. The document was supplemented in 1360 with an ordinance on mining, thus setting the norms for the working of the mine until the start of the seventeenth century. The fifteenth century

At the end of the fifteenth century almost 300 tons of copper were mined and smelted each year. Trade between Sweden and the continent went through the Hansa, and thanks to customs records in Lübeck we can follow the amount of copper exports from the fourteenth century onwards.

1533

In the fifteenth century the part-owners of the mine, the yeoman miners, acquired great influence on the economy and politics of Dalarna and the whole of Sweden. The guild of the yeoman miners was called after Saint George. No other guild in Sweden has had the same martial character or the same power to pursue political goals. In 1533 King Gustav Vasa lost his patience with the yeoman miners’ rebelliousness and disobedience and summoned them to meet him at Kopparberget. After a thunderous speech that lasted the whole day, the king had some of the ringleaders executed. This was the end of the yeoman miners’ era of political power.

The 1570s brought improved methods for pumping water and hoisting ore. This technical development coincided with an increased demand for copper in Europe, and the mine entered its heyday.

The seventeenth century – the Age of Greatness

During Sweden’s period as a great power in the seventeenth century, there were times when the mine provided for two thirds of Europe’s copper needs. The Council of the Realm in Stockholm called the mine the nation’s treasury and strongbox. The mine was the biggest industrial workplace in Sweden, sometimes with over 1,000 men working each day. In 1650 the mine reached its peak with an output of more than 3,000 tons of raw copper.

The first map of a Swedish mine was the one showing Falun Mine in 1629. Maps were an essential part of the work to achieve better organization and safer mining. Despite this, the operations at the mine were often driven by greed and ruthless exploitation. This led to several major cave-ins, and the one in 1687 is considered to be the end of the mine’s heyday.

The cave-in of 1687

At Midsummer 1687 ominous noises began to be heard in the mine, and on 25 June the biggest cave-in ever took place. The earlier open pits – Blankstöten, Bondestöten and Skeppsstöten – collapsed to give one huge gaping hole. The next day a large part of the Bockbacken pit also collapsed. The result was the Great Pit, with a depth of 100 metres and debris down to a depth of 300 metres. Rumours of the event spread quickly, not just because of the size of the cave-in but also because not a single person was killed. The workers were all free for Midsummer.

The eighteenth century

During the eighteenth century copper production in Falun Mine decreased and the mining company began to diversify its operations with iron production and sawn timber. Manufacture of red paint had begun on a small scale in previous centuries, and production gained momentum in earnest during the eighteenth century.

The nineteenth century

In the nineteenth century conditions were established for a new Stora Kopparberget as a result of a greater concentration on iron production and forest products. In 1888 the old mining company was converted into a joint-stock company, Stora Kopparbergs Bergslags AB.

In 1881 the sorter boy Gustaf Eriksson found solid gold for the first time in the Falun Mine. After that find there was gold fever in Falun for several years. The “golden age” of the mine lasted a few years into the twentieth century. A total of five tons of gold were extracted from Falun Mine.

The twentieth century

Falun Mine lived on during the twentieth century, but copper production had become a sideline. Mining was dominated by iron pyrites and zinc. Since 1969 some of the oldest parts of the mine have been open to the public.

In the 1980s the company was the biggest forestry enterprise in Sweden and one of the ten biggest in the world. The name was shortened to STORA. On 8 December 1992 all mining ceased in Falun Mine.

Today

Since 2000 the mine has been owned and administered by the autonomous Stora Kopparberget Foundation. In December 2001 Unesco placed Falun Mine, together with parts of the town of Falun and the master miners’ country homes, on the World Heritage List.

Total production at Falun Mine

A total of about 30 million tons of ore have been mined, 10 million of this in the last hundred years.

The content of sulphur and metal in the ore has been estimated as shown in the table: