Arktikugol
 |
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| State owned | |
| Industry | Mining |
| Founded | 1931 |
| Headquarters | Moscow, Russia |
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Area served
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Svalbard |
| Products | Coal |
| Parent | Government of Russia |
| Website | www.arcticugol.ru |
Arktikugol (Russian: Арктикуголь, literally "Arctic Coal"' full name Федеральное государственное унитарное предприятие (ФГУП) государственный трест (ГТ) «Арктикуголь» ) is a Russian coal mining unitary enterprise which operates on the islands of Spitsbergen in Svalbard, Norway. Owned by the Government of Russia, Arktikugol currently has limited mining in Barentsburg. Previously it has carried out mining operations and still owns the towns of Pyramiden and Grumant, with its port at Colesbukta. The company is headquartered in Moscow and is the official agency through which Russia, and previously the Soviet Union, exercised its Svalbard policy.
The company was established on 7 October 1931 to take over all Soviet mining interests on Svalbard. At the time Grumant and Pyramiden were bought, although only Grumant was in operation. It also bought Barentsburg from Dutch interests. The company retained operation there and in Grumant until 1941, when all employees were evacuated to the mainland as part of Operation Gauntlet. Mining resumed in 1947 and commenced in Pyramiden in 1955. Declining coal deposits resulted in Grumant being closed in 1961. Throughout the 1960s to 80s Arktikugol carried out a series of oil drilling on the archipelago, but never succeeded at finding profitable reservoirs. From the 1990s the company lost a lot of its subsidies and cut production, resulting in Pyramiden being closed in 1998. The company has attempted to diversify, without success.
The first Russian expedition to Svalbard in lieu of exploring for coal mining was conducted by Vladimir Alexandtrovitch Rusanov in 1912. It explored the areas around Bellsund and van Mijenfjorden. It later went northwards to Isfjorden and visited Grønfjorden and Adventfjorden, and it occupied a claim at Colesbukta on 7 August. On 16 March 1913 the financiers of the expedition established the company Handelshuset Grumant – A. G. Agafeloff & Co. to exploit the mine. They sent an expedition that summer and started breaking coal at Colesbukta with a force of 25 men. In 1920 The Anglo Russian Grumant Company Ltd. was established to purchase the operations at Grumant, the mining town which grew up at Colesbukta. At the time a challenge for the Russian interests on Spitsbergen was that the Soviet Union was not yet party to the Svalbard Treaty.
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Wikipedia