History
The Dannemora mine has ancestries from Gustav Vasa. The oldest document in which the ore reserves are mentioned is a deed of gift from 1481, in which Sten Sture the Elder gave the recently discovered sulphide deposits in the silver mine in the parish of Film, to Councillor of State Jakob Ulfsson, who was also Archbishop of Uppsala.
The iron ore deposits in the field, which remained the most important in the country until the end of the 1800s, were not mentioned until a century later. However, there is much to indicate that iron ore was extracted long before then. The Dannemora field contains a very large number of old mines and pits, which would point to large-scale mining activity in historical times.
In 1532, Gustav Vasa issued a charter to Joakim Piper for the “Dannemora Mine”. Operations continued until a company founded by the King in 1545 took over the mines. After 1640, individuals were given rights to extract the deposits even though they were still owned by the Crown.
The mining regulations of 1723 confirmed the ownership rights to the operational mines. At that time the main co-owners were foundries and ironworks, which over the years had established themselves close to the mines in locations with access to water power and woodland.
As a result of closures and mergers, the number of co-owners fell and by 1918 there were only six. In 1937, the Limited Company Dannemora Gruvor was formed by Fagersta AB, Stora Kopparberg AB, Iggesunds Bruk AB and Hargs Bruk AB. The number of owners gradually declined, and in 1974 Stora Kopparberg AB was sole owner of Dannemora Gruvor.
Svenskt Stål AB (SSAB) was formed in 1978 to rationalise and streamline the iron ore mines and steelworks. The new company was owned by the Swedish government, Stora Kopparberg AB and Gränges AB, and its mining division operated the Dannemora, Grängesberg and Stråssa iron ore mines.
In February 1987, the Board of SSAB announced that the Dannemora mine would be closing, although the mine actually remained in operation until 1992. The main reason for the decision was a combination of poor demand for iron ore and low prices.
On 17 March 2005, Dannemora Mineral AB was founded for the purpose of resuming operations at the Dannemora mine.
On 13 June, 2012, Dannemora mine was repoended by H.M. Carl XVI Gustaf.
On 28 June, 2012, first iron ore shipment leaved for Germany