View Finngruvan View Point -S17

The fin mines were put into use in the 1690s and were mined on a large scale throughout the 18th century. When the ore deposits began to run out in the middle of the 19th century, the business was shut down. The deepest mine hole is the Krongruvan, which is 54 meters deep. Here there are remains of a 1,780-metre-long bar passage, built in 1744, and a water break. Finngruvan was discovered in 1695 by Lisa Ersdotter. After her discovery of the Finngruvan, Lisa Ersdotter requested and received a finder's fee from King Karl XII. As a thank you, she received a silver bowl filled with silver coins. The bowl was donated in 1747 to Ljusnarsberg's church and has an inscription: "Of King Nåd is this Bowl hidden 60 dahl:r Silf:r M:t Åhr 1699 gifted Wife Elisabet Erichsdotter for Finngruwan's invention wijd Ljusnarsberg." Now you can see huge piles of warp (useless ore) and water-filled open pits. The water in the open pits has a green color due to copper precipitation. In several of the fractures, you can see the smooth sides of the rock walls which show that the quarrying took place without using gunpowder. The quarrying has taken place through so-called preparation, when the rock was heated up with fire so that cracks were formed which facilitated the quarrying of the rock. 50 meters north of the Finngruvorna is the Fallgruvorna, which is first mentioned in 1725. The mines were put into use around the same time as the Finngruvorna. In 1747, an arm was built from the bar passage at Finngruvorna to Fallgruvorna. The mining was stopped in 1773 and already in 1794 the mines had been filled with water for several years.