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Mines/Norway

Kongsberg silver mines

Kongsberg silver mines, Norway. Heritage site, underground, mining silver, copper.

Why Kongsberg silver mines is famous

Two herding children found the silver in summer 1623 and state mining began that autumn. The workforce peaked at 4,075 in 1770. Parliament voted in 1955 to close the works and the last smelting took place in 1958. Deepest level 1,068 m below the surface in Kongens gruve.1,2

Story cards

Kongsberg silver mines today

Where silver is mined todayWhere copper is mined todayMining in Norway

Where next

Mines

An example ofRoros Copper Works and minesNorway's silver town Kongsberg began in 1623. Roros followed with copper in 1644.1

Places

Located inKongsbergKongsberg silver mines is about 4 km from Kongsberg.1

Sources

  1. Kongsberg solvverk Store norske leksikon
  2. Wikidata item Q59046 (Kongsberg Silverworks) Wikidata (CC0)

From the Prospector Trails mining history dataset: each fact links to the source it was checked against. Figures are as the source gives them, in the money of their day. Not investment advice.

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Pictures: Falu gruva, Lundberg, Bengt A / Europeana (CC0 1.0); Dolcoath tin mine, Camborne, Cornwall: miners in a mine shaft, standing on wooden platforms connected by ladders. Photograph by J. C. Burrow, 1890/1910., Burrow, J. C., 1852-1914 (Public Domain Mark 1.0).