Former deep iron ore mine at Ställberg, now an active art and cultural centre in a well-preserved industrial complex.
Ställbergs gruva, located at Ställberg in Ljusnarsbergs Municipality, Örebro County, was a manganese-bearing iron ore mine in operation from 1867 to 1977 and for much of the twentieth century Sweden's deepest mine. The ore body was worked at depths reaching 1,072 metres at the main shaft. The current surface complex was built in 1920–22 to designs by the Stockholm firm P. Härdéns konstruktionsfirma, and its concrete headframe was among the first of its type in Sweden.
The mine was distinguished technically as the first in the country to introduce compressed-air rock drilling underground. Its owner, Ställbergs Grufve AB, later known as Ställbergsbolagen, was at its height Sweden's second-largest iron ore exporter and from the 1930s also held interests in Stripa gruva, Idkerbergets gruva, and Hillängsgruvan. The mine was closed in 1977 after Kinnevik AB acquired Ställbergsbolagen and redirected its capital.
The surface complex has stood largely intact since closure and was reopened in 2013 as a venue for contemporary art and cultural activities operated by the association The non existent Center.
Iron ore was identified at Ställberg in 1867, when the manganese-bearing deposit that would sustain more than a century of extraction first came into organised working. The operator was Ställbergs Grufve AB, which would in time become one of Sweden's most significant mining enterprises, reaching at its peak the position of Sweden's second-largest iron ore exporter. From the 1930s the company also held controlling interests in Stripa gruva, Idkerbergets gruva, and Hillängsgruvan in Ludvika Municipality.
The mine was technically innovative in a number of respects. It was the first in Sweden to introduce bergborrning med tryckluft — compressed-air rock drilling — underground, a technique that significantly accelerated extraction rates at depth. The main shaft eventually reached working levels at 900 metres, with exploratory development reaching 1,072 metres, making Ställbergsgruvan Sweden's deepest mine for a substantial portion of the twentieth century and during the 1950s Europas djupaste järnmalmsgruva — Europe's deepest iron ore mine.
The surface installation visible today was constructed in 1920–22 to designs produced by P. Härdéns konstruktionsfirma in Stockholm. The concrete headframe that forms the centrepiece of the complex was among the first headframes to be built in concrete in Sweden. Its depth and the mechanical forces required for hoisting from such depths are believed to have motivated the choice of reinforced concrete as a material. The headframe was originally painted white. During the Second World War the structure was camouflage-painted and its pitched roof was cut off to provide a platform for anti-aircraft guns. After the war the white finish was restored.
The mine's peak came in the 1950s and early 1960s, when the surrounding community of Ställberg had nearly 500 residents, with schools, a post office, shops, a railway station, and an active associational life. By the late 1960s the community was at its peak, but global price pressure on iron ore was already undermining the economics of the operation. The deepening shafts required increasing investment while competition from lower-cost producers overseas made the ore progressively less competitive on world markets.
In 1977 Kinnevik AB, under the then director Jan Stenbeck, took over Ställbergsbolagen and decided to close the mine definitively, redirecting the capital into emerging telecommunications and digital media ventures, including what would become ZTV and Comviq, later Tele2. The mine closed in 1977 after 110 years of operation.
The surface complex — the 28-metre concrete headframe, ore sorting works, office building, and machine halls — stood largely unused for the following 35 years. In 2013 the complex was reopened as a centre for contemporary art, thought, and cultural activity, operated by the association The non existent Center, subsequently renamed Ställbergs gruva. The organisation receives annual state and regional cultural funding under the Kultursamverkansmodellen and has earned the Nerikes Allehanda cultural prize. Nearby, Polhemsgruvan and Haggruvan — two associated workings also belonging to Ställbergsbolagen, with concrete headframes designed by architect Yngve Fredriksén erected in 1958 and 1955 respectively — closed in 1967 and 1968.