Between two lakes just north of Filipstad is one of Sweden's best preserved mining environments, with a rare mineral richness and more than 400 years of industrial history. The story is seated between mines and foundry, mining pits, monumental piles of waste rock and in John Ericssongården's lush garden at the shore of Hyttsjön. Welcome to the mining district Bergslagen in Värmland!
Iron ore was not only mined in Långban. They also learned how to make use of manganese ore and dolomite. The manganese was used to make the iron stronger and to colour glass. Dolomite was used as fertilizer and lining in furnaces.
In the sorting house you separated what was mined, there were two different kinds of iron ore and two different kinds of manganese ore. The women and children who sorted the ore could spot the difference with the naked eye. The ore was then sent to the weighing house to be weighed and finally forwarded to the furnace. You sorted out what you didn't want and it ended up in the skarn pile behind the sorting house. That does not mean it was not valuable. Today the piles are behind fences for protection, after the mine closure, people came and loaded trucks with the minerals. The piles were much larger than it is today.