The Quenangen Mining Association was an English industry that operated copper mines in the area surrounding the

Kvænangen Kvænangen (or historically ''Quenangen'') may refer to: Places * Kvænangen Municipality, a municipality in Troms county, Norway * Kvænangen (fjord), a fjord in Troms county, Norway * Kvænangen concentration camp, a World War II era concentratio ...

fjord in

Northern Norway Northern Norway (, , ; ) is a geographical region of Norway, consisting of the three northernmost counties Nordland, Troms and Finnmark, in total about 35% of the Norwegian mainland. Some of the largest towns in Northern Norway (from south to no ...

in the 1800s.

Background

Around 1826, the Englishmen

John Rice Crowe Sir John Rice Crowe (November 20, 1795 – January 10, 1877) was an English businessman and diplomat who spent much of his life in Norway. He was the British consul-general in Norway, residing in Christiania, from 1843. Together with Henry Dick ...

and Henry Dick Woodfall started a company to extract copper ore in the

prestegjeld A ''prestegjeld'' was a geographic and administrative area within the Church of Norway (''Den Norske Kirke'') roughly equivalent to a parish. This traditional designation was in use for centuries to divide the kingdom into ecclesiastical areas tha ...

(parish of Alta (town), Alta. This company was named the Alten Copper Works and was later renamed the Kåfjord Copper Works (''Kåfjord kobberverk''). John Rice Crowe (1795–1877) had started trading in

Hammerfest Hammerfest or Hámmárfeasta is a town/cityIn the Norwegian language, the word ''by'' can be translated as "town" or "city". that is also the administrative centre of Hammerfest Municipality in Finnmark county, Norway. It is located on the nor ...

around 1820. On May 17, 1827 the

reindeer herder Reindeer herding is when reindeer are herded by people in a limited area. Currently, reindeer are the only semi-domesticated animal which naturally belong to the North. Reindeer herding is conducted in nine countries: Norway, Finland, Sweden, Russ ...

Maret Aslaksdatter signed a contract whereby she transferred the right to exploit the copper ore deposits found near the village of Kåfjord to John Rice Crowe. As payment, she received 50 ''

våg A våg (plural ''våger'') or vog is an old Scandinavian unit of mass. The standardized ''landsvåg'', which was introduced in Norway with the new system of weights and measures in 1875, corresponded to three '' bismerpund'', or . The ''våg'' was ...

er'' (about ) of whole-grain rye flour.

Mining in Kvænangen

Not long after the start of operations Alta, John Rice Crowe took an interest in the ore deposits in the neighboring parish of Kvænangen, a large area surrounding the

fjord. As early as 1743, there were reports of

copper ore Copper is a chemical element; it has symbol Cu (from Latin ) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkish-orang ...

in Kvænangen, but no one had taken steps to start mining there based on the finds. Together with merchants from Hammerfest, Crowe founded the Quenangen Mining Association to mine in Kvænangen (''Quenangen'' is the historic spelling of the area, the modern spelling is ''Kvænangen''). Around 1827, they began investigated the ore deposits, and the surveys continued for many years. It was not until 1840 that mining operations got underway in Kvænangen, starting with

Kjækan , , or is a village in Kvænangen Municipality in Troms county, Norway. Geography The village is located along the shore of Kjækan Bay (, , or ''Geahkkánluokta'') at the southeast end of the Kvænangen fjord, about south of the municipal c ...

. Several mines were established in Kvænangen; the largest were the Edward Mine (''Edwards gruve'') and Cedar Mine (''Cedars gruve''). The Edward Mine was the first to be opened. It was located on the Kjækan River (''Kjækanelva''), a few kilometers from the sea. The company built housing for workers at Kjækan. When copper ore was found further up in the mountains, on the Badder River (''Badderelva''), new mines were established there. It was too far for the workers to commute daily, so the Quenangen Mining Association built temporary housing for the workers near the new mines and introduced five-day work weeks so that workers could visit their families down in the valley on weekends. However, copper prices fell on the world market, and the Quenangen Mining Association experienced financial problems. At the end of the 1840s, the company sold its mines in Kvænangen to the Kåfjord plant, but the Kvænangen plant remained independent until 1857. Then the two works were formally merged into one company.

Later years

The Alta works, which the Kvænangen mines were part of, were closed together with the company Sulitjelma Aktiebolag in 1896. After that, the old trading site of

Badderen , , or is a village in Kvænangen Municipality in Troms county, Norway. It lies at the head of the Badderfjord, about south of the municipal seat of Burfjord. The European route E6 highway passes through the village. The basic statistical unit ...

became the center for new mining operations in Kvænangen. An ore

quay A wharf ( or wharfs), quay ( , also ), staith, or staithe is a structure on the shore of a harbour or on the bank of a river or canal where ships may dock to load and unload cargo or passengers. Such a structure includes one or more Berth (mo ...

was built at Badderen with a road to the mines, and a telephone line was also set up.

References

{{reflist History of Finnmark Defunct copper smelters Kvænangen Copper mining companies of Norway