Ramhäll Mines

The ore deposit in the area was discovered in the mid-1700s. Folk legend tells of a homeless and jobless wagon-maker journeyman named Hammarin, who had been dismissed from the works in Österbybruk and was on his way through the forests towards Rasbokil when he saw that there was ore in the rock he was walking on. Another story tells of mining bailiff Petter Enander, who in 1742 is said to have discovered the ore deposit in the area. In any case, there is a map of Ramhäll Mine from 1746, and old church records show that people lived in Ramhäll at that time. Mining initially consisted of breaking the visible ore from open pits using old techniques and transporting it away for processing. Not until 1916 did they begin using pneumatic drills in the actual extraction work, and only in the 1930s was a processing plant purchased. When Stora Kopparbergs AB bought both the mining rights and the facility itself in Ramhäll in 1942, however, the mining was radically modernised, and in 1947 one of Sweden's and Europe's most modern facilities for the production of iron-ore concentrate was started here. In 1975 all mining in Ramhäll ceased. The mine shafts have since filled with water.