Sixty-four-metre concrete ore-processing headframe of 1960 in Norberg, closed in 1981 and now a landmark venue for an annual electronic music festival.
Mimerlaven is a concrete ore-processing complex built in 1960 at the Mimerfältet in Norberg, Västmanland, standing 64 metres high over a shaft descending 325 metres. It served as the central hoisting, crushing, and ore-dressing facility for the underground iron ore mines of Norberg, at its peak handling all ore extracted from the town's mines. The complex comprises three interconnected sections: the headframe tower itself with its hoisting gear, a crushing plant, and a concentration plant where iron-bearing material was separated from waste rock.
The field's development began in earnest after 1908, when the area was acquired by interests associated with the German industrialist Von Donnersmark to supply iron ore to industrial plants in Germany. In 1910 the operating company was reconstituted as Grufaktiebolaget Stark. After the company went bankrupt at the end of the First World War, the field lay idle until 1937.
Operations resumed under various German company interests and continued until 1981, when all ore extraction and iron production in Norberg ceased. Norbergs kommun acquired Mimerlaven in 1999 and it is now the setting of Norbergsfestival, an annual electronic music event.
The Mimerfältet in Norberg sits at the eastern edge of the town's mining district, adjacent to the older railway alignment of 1856, now called Gamla banan. Iron ore extraction in Norberg has roots going back to at least the early fourteenth century, but development of the Mimer field specifically began relatively late compared to other parts of the Norberg district. In 1908 the Mimer field was acquired by interests associated with the German industrialist Von Donnersmark, with the stated aim of supplying ore to manufacturing installations in Germany.
By 1910 the operating entity had been reorganised and renamed Grufaktiebolaget Stark, which also expanded its landholding in the area. During the period before the First World War the Mimer field became the most productive extraction area in Norberg, accounting for approximately one quarter of the total ore hoisted in the parish. The end of the war brought the company's insolvency, and the Mimer field was silent from around 1918 until 1937.
After resumption, operations were conducted under the direction of various German-linked companies through the post-war decades until 1950, and then by other operators. The present Mimerlaven structure was built in 1960. At sixty-four metres in height and standing over a 325-metre shaft, it was designed to consolidate all ore hoisting from Norberg's underground workings through a single installation.
During a period of its operation, all ore broken underground in the Norberg mines was brought to surface via Mimerlaven's hoisting system. Ore passed from the skip hoist into the crushing section and then through the concentration plant, where iron minerals were separated from gangue; the resulting concentrate was conveyed by belt to storage heaps outside the building for onward rail transport. The electrical power station associated with the field, which dates from the early twentieth-century phase of the operation, survives adjacent to Mimerlaven and represents the earlier phase of the site's industrial character.
All ore extraction and iron smelting in Norberg came to an end in 1981, closing more than a thousand years of iron-working tradition in the town. Following closure, Mimerlaven stood unused. Norbergs kommun took ownership of the structure in 1999, averting demolition.
Since then it has been adapted as a cultural venue. The 64-metre tower, with its 365 steps to the top, is accessible for guided ascents and offers views over the town and surrounding landscape. Since the early 2000s the complex has hosted Norbergsfestival, an annual electronic music event that has grown into one of Scandinavia's largest festivals of its kind.
The site is recognised as a prominent cultural symbol of Norberg's industrial history and of the present cultural life of the municipality.