Sydvaranger
Sydvaranger AS, previously A/S Sydvaranger, is an iron ore mining company in Sør-Varanger, Norway. Since 2015 its mining operations have not restarted yet. Sydvaranger is owned by Tacora resources, and it owns an open-pit mine at Bjørnevatn. Sydvaranger has traditionally hauled the ore with the Kirkenes–Bjørnevatn Line to Kirkenes for processing and shipping. The ore was discovered in 1866, but it was not until the 1900s that new technology made it commercially viable. Sydvaranger was established in 1906 by Christian Anker and Nils Persson and had Sweden's Metallurgiska as the majority owner. Production started in 1910 and capacity was increased in 1913. Production halted during World War I and the company could not recover afterwards, resulting in it falling under bankruptcy protection between 1924 and 1927. During the 1930s the company also owned Rana Mine at Storforshei in Rana. During the German withdrawal in October 1944 Kirkenes was scorched, including most of the mining infrastructure. Reconstruction started in 1945, operation commenced in 1953 and the facilities were completed in 1960. At its peak, the company had 1,500 employees. Production was profitable from the reopening until 1976, but from then the company needed NOK 5 billion in state grants to keep running, before being shut down in 1996. The mining operations restarted in 2009. And ceased around 2015 , the company and property were purchased in 2020 by Tacora resources with plans to resume mining activity in 2022 History Establishment The iron ore at Bjørnevatn was originally discovered by assistant director of the Geological Survey of Norway, Tellef Dahll, in 1868. It was at the time not commercially viable to mine. With the development of magnetic separation, merchant Christian Anker from Halden started acquiring deeds for the area. In 1903 he contacted the government and started negotiating an agreement to start operations. After several rounds of proposals he received permission and the contract was signed on 9 March 1905. Anker's principal assistant, Engineer Henrik Lund, arrived at Kirkenes in 1903 and started designing the plant. He was assisted by Hans Johan Bernhard Hansen from 1905. They decided that the port should be located at Kirkenes and that a railway would have to be built between the mine and the port. By 1905 then Anker had negotiated an investment agreement with Nils Persson of Sweden, who took over Anker's rights immediately after Anker had signed the contract. The company was established on 12 January 1906 with A. P. Pehrson appointed the company's first managing director. The share capital was set to 5 million Norwegian krone (NOK) and the majority shareholder was Metallurgiska. The first task was to mine a trial , which were shipped to Luleå for analysis. Inge Thoresen Wiull was hired as chief engineer in September 1906. He initially started working on housing in Kirkenes, which by 1908 had reached 31 houses for workers, each with four apartments, and six white-collar houses. From November 1906 Wiull was also responsible for constructing the railway and the port, based on his experience