Kleva gruva
Coordinates: 57 ° 27 ′ 34.2 " N , 15 ° 15 ′ 23.8" E
The Kleva gruva is a former copper - and nickel mine in Alseda ( Vetlanda municipality ) in the province of Jönköping County , in the north of the southern Swedish historical province of Småland lies. Located ten kilometers east of the town of Vetlanda in the Småland highlands, it is now a tourist attraction.
history
The mining of copper ore began in 1691. That year the deposit was discovered by a bell ringer from Skede while walking. He had found a shiny stone and was hoping for a gold find. In the subsequent analysis, however, only a small amount of gold was found, but a worthwhile amount of copper. In 1692 a company was founded to carry out the mining. A smelter was built near the mill in Gyaån near Ädelfors in 1694. The mining of the ore began at the top of the mountain, after which it slowly developed downwards. The first trial melting took place in 1696.
The copper recovered was of poor quality because it was very brittle. The operation of the mine turned out to be inefficient.
In 1728 the mine was closed for the first time, by the operator at the time, Carl Leijonader . At this point in time, the large mine had reached a depth of around 85 meters. The large pit then filled with water. However, with the construction of the so-called small pit, Carl Leijonader continued the mining in 1731, according to another statement as early as 1728/29. At first the dismantling was irregular. In the five years to 1736, approximately 5,000 kilograms of purified copper were produced. In the period after 1736, 3,000 kilograms of copper were extracted annually from the dump material, with the ore only containing 0.5% copper. So-called fire setting was used as a dismantling method . The stone was heated by fire for hours and then poured with ice-cold water so that the stone became brittle. Black powder was sometimes used. The different mining methods can still be seen in the pit today.
The mine was closed again in 1738 because gold was found in Ädelfors . In 1739 the Kleva mining company was sold to the Ädelfors company. For twelve years the focus was on gold mining in Gyafors in Ädelfors. In Kleva, funding took place only irregularly to a small extent. In addition, another copper deposit was discovered in Sunnerskog .
In 1750 the large mine was continued by Johan Olsson . First of all, the water was pumped out of the pit for two years. With the decline and the temporary cessation of gold mining in Ädelfors in 1768, the importance of Kleva increased. In 1769 the Nilsons tunnel at a depth of 27 m was completed as a drainage tunnel. The constantly flowing water was pumped into these tunnels with the help of pump sticks. Horses lowered into the shaft were initially used to drive the pumps. A wind turbine on the mountain top was also used as a drive. Various shafts were used to ventilate the pit. With the help of wooden air drums, fresh weather was brought to places that were difficult to reach.
At the edge of the mine a red dye, the Falun red , was extracted by the miners' families .
In 1774 the mine was closed again, this time for about 50 years.
In 1824, Johan Lorentz Aschan bought the mine. Aschan tried to complete a tunnel for draining the large pit, which had been started from the inside in the 18th century, probably from 1769, and half built from the outside. The difficult project, carried out based on old plans, succeeded in 1828. Through this tunnel, now known as the ash tunnel, the large pit was drained again. Aschan continued to mine copper, with poor results. In 1838 Aschan arranged for the ore from the Kleva mine to be re-examined by Jöns Jakob Berzelius . He found out that the Kleva ore contained not only copper but also nickel , which was still unknown in 1691. At that time, nickel was a sought-after raw material for the production of nickel silver alloys and was mainly exported to Germany . Since then, the mine has been operated as a nickel mine. From 1845, nickel production took place on a larger scale. In the period from 1845 to 1862 6,266 tons of ore were mined, from which 125.35 tons of nickel were extracted. In 1854 and 1855 the mine was closed. After Aschan's death in 1856, his children continued the mine for about 20 years.
From 1863 to 1875 the mine was operated most intensively and extracted 24,224 tons of ore. 461 tons of nickel, another figure only gives about 125 tons, were extracted in this way. Record profits were achieved. In 1874/1875 profits of over 200,000 kroner were achieved.
With the discovery of larger and richer nickel ore deposits in New Caledonia at the end of the 19th century, the world market price fell by about 60%. The mining in Kleva was no longer profitable and was stopped in 1879. The dismantling continued to a limited extent in 1881. In 1885 Hans von Post took over the mine management. Until 1890, ore was mined irregularly and little. From 1890 to 1896 only the nickel works were in operation, but ore was not mined. The ore mining stopped until 1913. In connection with the First World War , production was revived for a short time until the mine was finally shut down in 1920. During this time, 9,814 tons of ore were mined. A total of 54,380 tons of ore were mined during the time of nickel production, from which 1,028 tons of nickel were extracted. From 1933 to 1944, maintenance work took place in the mine. During the Second World War , nickel, which was important for armaments production, was again extracted from the old spoil heaps.
In 1991, after extensive control and safety work, the municipality of Vetlanda opened the mine as a tourist attraction. It has been privately run since 1995. The Berggren family leased the mine and turned it into a show mine. In 2009, the Hörner / Helfritsch family from Germany took over the operation of the plant.
investment
The mine has about six kilometers long tunnels and shafts, about two kilometers of which are accessible to visitors. About three kilometers are under water today. Access is via the 270 meter long ash tunnel. The tunnel is ventilated via the Katarinenschacht. The tunnel leads to the large pit, the oldest shaft in the mine. The large pit is 110 meters deep, half full of water and has an opening to the surface. The ash tunnel meets the large pit about 55 meters below the opening. Behind a bridge, the so-called dark corridor extends for about 100 m . It is accessible to visitors but does not have its own lighting and is intended to give an impression of the original working conditions. To the right of the dark corridor, the Karlsschacht leads over 55 m to the surface. In the past, it was used to mine ore to the top. At the beginning of the 20th century, there was a DC powered elevator here.
The largest room in the pit is the so-called Arch Church . It is about 30 m high, with a diameter of 17 to 20 m. The ore church was created when the largest continuous ore body of the mine was found here in the 18th century and then mined. Due to calcium in the pit , some lighter areas appear on the walls.
Such a structure occurring in the upper part of the Arch Church can be interpreted as a female face and was discovered as early as the 18th century. The picture was interpreted as a Madonna in the mountains or as a mountain woman . The miner was feared by the miners. According to a legend, the miner was angry about the ore mining and left the mountain. She returned homesick and began protecting the workers. It is said to have touched the miner's shoulder when danger was imminent, whereupon the worker immediately left the pit and did not reenter it that day. Out of respect for the miner, the miners knocked on entering the pit to show her respect.
The balcony can be reached from the Erzkirche , from which a view from above into the large pit is possible.
A steep ascent leads to an area with several small passages driven into the mountain in different directions, the so-called labyrinth . This area is accessible without lighting. Bats stay here in the winter months . In the vicinity of the labyrinth is the Oskarssenke , the deepest shaft in the pit. Another larger room in the pit is the Bergkönigssaal , which can be reached from the Großer Grube via a bridge over the Green Lake .
Guided tours are offered. A tour takes about 1–1.5 hours. There are also other offers for tourists, such as gold panning , treasure hunts in the mine as well as outside in the area around the mine, which is protected as a cultural monument, and climbing . Additional activities are offered for groups. The mine is closed from October 1st to April 15th. During this time around 200 bats live in the facility.
In the vicinity of the pit there are several wooden houses, some of which date from the 18th century and served as the residence of the pit bailiff and the foreman . Another building, of which only the foundations remain today, is the so-called Matsal . The miners ate here at the beginning of the 20th century. The building later served as a residential building but was demolished in the 1950s.
literature
- Welcome to the Kleva mine , Projektbyrån i Småland, no year.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ klevagruva.com - history ; Retrieved June 4, 2011
- ↑ Welcome to the Kleva mine , Projektbyrån i Småland, no year, page 16
- ↑ Welcome to the Kleva mine , Projektbyrån i Småland, no year, page 12
- ↑ Welcome to the Kleva mine , Projektbyrån i Småland, no year, page 17
- ↑ Welcome to the Kleva mine , Projektbyrån i Småland, no year, page 13