Fröå gruva

Useful Information

Location:	Near Åre. From Åre follow E14 southwest, about 4 km from the center turn left into Fröåvägen, 5 km to the mine. (63.404377, 13.208097)
Open:	01-JUN to 21-AUG daily 11-17. [2007]
Fee:	Adults SEK 50, Children (12-17) SEK 25. [2007]
Classification:	Copper Mine
Light:	Incandescent Electric Light System
Dimension:
Guided tours:
Photography:
Accessibility:
Bibliography:
Address:	Förön Fröå Gruvor, Såå 233, 837 97 Åre, Tel: +46-70-323-63-36. E-mail:
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

1744	copper ore discovered by Anna Larsdotter from Björnänge.
1744	mine opened by Gruvbolaget.
1752	water first used to produce power for the mine.
1910	the American era with a share capital of one million dollars, massive modernizations.
1919	mining company went corrupt, mine closed.

Geology

The ore is found stratiform in Ordovician rocks, the layer is found for kilometers, but it is generally only a few centimeters thick. But there are three thicker deposits of ore coupled with marble overlaid by a calcite rich quartzic gneiss. Bjelkes mine was mining the uppermost deposit, Fröå mine the middle, and some small nameless workings in the lowest deposit.

Description

Fröå Gruva is located close to the skiing village Åre. It is located above the valley of the fejell (plateau) of Mount Åreskutan. The area has a lot of snow in winter, the mine is accessible and open only for a short period during summer. The mine area has actually two distinct mines, Fröå and Bjelkes mine.

The remains of the mine include a Stånggången, which is a wooden system of logs which was used to transport the energy of a waterwheel to the mine. The Pumphuset shows the remains of the old pumps used to pump water out of the mine.

The mines were worked in four different periods. The total production was about 3,000 tons of copper. During the last mining period between 1910 and 1919 an American company tried to rework the rock piles of the previous mining periods. The idea was, that modern processing technology would be able to extract more copper from the ore than before. This did not work very well and the company went bankrupt. But there are still many rock piles which are a fine mineral collecting possibilities, more may be found in the remains of the small nameless workings around the main mines. Numerous copper ores and minerals may be found, including malachite, azurite, chalcopyrite, magnetite, covelline, pyrite, molybdenite, sphalerite, bornite, and natrolite.

The area of the mine, the former mining village Åreskutan has many small houses once built by the miners. In one of the buildings is a fine mineral museum, concentrating on local minerals.