Sydvaranger AS (previously A/S Sydvaranger) is an iron ore mining company in Sør-Varanger Municipality, Norway. The mining operations have not restarted (as of Q1 2025).https://www.nrk.no/tromsogfinnmark/onsker-a-elektrifisere-gruva-_-positiv-til-ny-kraftutbygging-i-finnmark--1.16860022. NRK.no. Retrieved 2024-04-26https://snl.no/Sydvaranger_-_gruveselskap. Store norske leksikon. Retrieved 2022-10-16 With an open-pit mine in Bjørnevatn, it 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 Municipality. 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.
After returning to operations between 2009 and 2015, it was expected that mining activities would resume in 2022, two years after the company and property were purchased by Tacora resources. On May 6, 2024, it was announced that Grangex had completed the acquisition of Sydvaranger Mining AS.
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.Sør-Varanger Historielag (2001): 60
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 from managing the construction of the Valdres Line.Sør-Varanger Historielag (2001): 61
Investments were in 1907 estimated to NOK 12 million, of which NOK 4.3 was for transport investments, NOK 4.5 million for the separation and briquetting plants, and NOK 1.5 million for investments in the mine. Capital was borrowed from a consortium consisting of Norddeutsche Bank, Disconto-Gesellschaft, Centralbanken for Norge and Stockholms Enskilda Bank. In addition the share capital was increased to NOK 10 million at the shareholders meeting in October 1907. A. Herden was hired by Metallurgiska to construct the separation plant and briquetting, which was dimensioned to for an annual export of . This was later reduced to an export capacity of . Pehrson resigned from 1 July 1908 and was replaced by Carl Lundh. To ensure all-year access to the port, the company ordered the 250-kilowatt (350 hp) icebreaker SS Sydvaranger, which was delivered in 1907 and operated by the subsidiary Dampskib Aktieselskabet Pasvik. The subsidiary ordered a second icebreaker, the 450-kilowatt (600 hp) SS Pasvik in 1908.Sør-Varanger Historielag (2001): 62
Most of Sydvaranger's original workforce came from Troms and Nordland, most of which were construction workers. Finnmark was experiencing a decline in fishing and some of the workforce came from nearby. The first trade union, Nordens Klippe, was established on 8 September 1906. Gradually separate trade unions for each profession were established. The first strike took place in 1908, but did not last long. Nils Albin Hedman was the first person to be killed in a working accident. The closest hospital was in Vadsø, but this raised the need for a hospital in Kirkenes. As there already were three public hospitals in Finnmark, the company was required to build a private hospital for its workers—non-employees had to travel to Vadsø or Vardø.Sør-Varanger Historielag (2001): 63
Construction of the railway was given high priority to as early as possible aid in transport of workers to the mining sites. Both stations were completed in 1908, the same year as the laying of tracks started. The first steam locomotive, built at Hamar Jernstøperi, was delivered during the fall of 1908. For the tracks in the mine, a shunter was needed and the company bought a fireless locomotive. Tracks were laid through the open-pit mine, with the length varying. For instance, in 1910 there were of tracks in the mine. Construction of a railway electrification system started in 1910;Aspenberg (2001): 18–19 because an overhead wire could interfere with the cranes, third-rail conduction was chosen. The electric components were delivered by Siemens-Schukert and were taken into use in 1912. The company took delivery of two electric locomotives.
Vulkan and four German construction companies issued tenders for construction of the separation and briquette plants; as Vulkan offered the second-cheapest bid it was selected. Installations started in July 1909, but work progressed slowly, in part because of the slow progress of the foundation work. This was partially accelerated with workforce from Christiania (Oslo), but they were again hindered because local lumber could not be used for the scaffolding. There was not sand of the necessary quality for concrete in the immediate area, so an aerial tramway was constructed from Bjørnevatn to Sandneselva.Sør-Varanger Historielag (2001): 64
Vulkan also built workshops and installed transformers. The company took delivery of a gyratory crusher in December 1909, which was also installed by Vulkan. The main axle broke during the trials, but it was repaired in time for the opening on 1 October 1910. Sydvaranger initially applied to build a hydroelectric power station in Pasvikelva, but instead had to build a thermal power station in Kirkenes. It was expanded to in 1917. Construction of the port with the separation and briquetting plants, known as the export facilities, started in 1907. Several quays were built, including one for export of ore and one for import of coal.Sør-Varanger Historielag (2001): 65
Pre-war operations
The first revenue train load was transported on 13 July 1910. The first shipload of ore was sent in October 1910 with SS Bengal. The ship sank with no survivors. The cause was probably that the forty-year-old ship had insufficient bulkheads. The second ship, SS Svend, sank off Valdersund. The third vessel, SS Aguilla, was loaded with , suffered heeling, but was able to return to Kirkenes. Wiull was hired as director of operations in 1910, and the following year Fr. H. Behrens was appointed managing director. Good market conditions resulted in the company deciding in 1911 to increase the facilities capacity to per year, costing NOK 3 million. This involved installing a new crusher, ordering two new locomotives and three new steam shovels and an expansion of the briquette and separation plant. The expansion was completed in 1911.Sør-Varanger Historielag (2001): 66
From 1911, the government required the company to establish a fund which would aid the workers should the company go bankrupt. This was introduced after several large industrial companies had collapsed in the past decade and large costs had befallen the state. Just as the first expansion was completed, Sydvaranger decided that it needed to further expand its export capacity to . Financing was secured through issuing new shares worth NOK 3 million. Investments included a new steam shovel, three steam cranes, three locomotives, a new briquetting plant; the work was completed in 1913. In 1913 the company had 1,150 employees.
With the break-out of World War I all of Sydvarangers sales and shipping contracts were annulled for the duration of the conflict. In July 1914 the company started securing sufficient spare parts and increasing its purchases of coal and food. As it was difficult to sell ore, the workforce was instead put to preparatory work, such as preparing new areas for mining, emptying one pit of water and lowering the water level in Bjørnevatnet by three meters (10 ft). In addition the company built up a surplus of ore.Sør-Varanger Historielag (2001): 67 Henrik Lund took a study trip to the United States in 1916, where he visited more than twenty cities and brought a series of innovations with him back. Wiull quit in 1917 and was replaced by Johan Knudtzen.
In the aftermath of World War I, Norway was not permitted to export more than of iron ore to Germany per year, of which Sydvaranger was issued a quota of 65,000. None of the Allies were interested in importing from Sydvaranger. The rise of coal prices caused the company to again look into hydroelectricity, and the subsidiary Tårnelven Kraftselskap was given concession to build a power station in Tårnelven on 15 July 1919. This was based on moving the flow of Kobbholmvassdraget and Karpelven to Tårnelven to power a common station, but this proved impossible to accomplish. Instead the lakes of Viksjøen, Djupvann and Storvand were regulated and a common power station built at sea level. A long transmission line was built to Bjørnevatn. This allowed the mainline railway between Kirkenes and Bjørnevatn to be electrified in 1920.Sør-Varanger Historielag (2001): 68
By 1919 the company was still not back in production. SS Sydvaranger and several locomotives were sold to raise capital, and the share capital was depreciated by fifty percent to NOK 11.5 million, new shares were sold for this amount and bonds were issued for NOK 10 million. This was not sufficient to save the company's finances, and after negotiations with the creditors, Sydvaranger amortized its shares to NOK 3.45 million and sold new shares worth NOK 21.55 million. The company introduced a new production method using sintering, but returned to briquettes from 1926. The company was struck by a major strike in 1921, which stopped part of the production. By the following year the surplus of export products was down to the pre-war levels and the company had 896 employees. The company also started a policy to lend money to employees to allow them to build their own houses.