Chr. Salvesen & Chr. Thams's Communications Aktieselskab
| Subsidiary | |
| Industry |
Transport Real Estate Energy |
| Founded | 1898 |
| Headquarters | Løkken Verk, Norway |
|
Area served
|
Meldal, Norway |
|
Key people
|
Arve Slørdahl (CEO) |
| Parent | Orkla Group |
| Website | http://www.orkla.com |
Chr. Salvesen & Chr. Thams's Communications Aktieselskab, Salvesen & Thams, Comms. AS or S&T is a Norwegian company based at Løkken Verk in Meldal that was responsible for electricity production and railway operation for Løkken Mine operated by the Orkla Mining Company. After the mine closed in 1987 it has been turned into a development company to try to create new jobs at Løkken.
Mining at Løkken Verk had its roots back to 1633 when King Christian IV of Denmark-Norway had opened the mine. At this time all mining was a privilege of the king. Later, in the 1800s, the mine was privatised and owned by Løkken Kobber og Kisværks Interessentskab.
In 1868, Wilhelm Thams (1812-1884), the owner of lumber company Strandheim Brug in Orkanger, Norway and Christian Salvesen of Turnbull, Salvesen and Company in Leith, Scotland founded the mining company Ørkedals Mining Company and bought a number of small mines around Løkken. In the early 1880s Wilhelm's grandson, Christian Thams returned from Switzerland and took over the running of the mining company. He realised that to make money from mining, he had to purchase the largest mine of the all, but didn't succeed until 1896 when it no longer was feasible to manually pump out the water, and bought Løkken Mine.
At this time it was fully possible for foreigners to own mines in Norway, but they could not own power plant or railways. So while the mining company was financed primarily be foreign capital, Salvesen & Thams was owned only by Chr. Thams and Salvesen, both originally locals, and could thus get the necessary permissions. Despite this, the company was bought by the mining company in 1904. The initial responsibility was to construct a hydro electric power plant at Skjenaldfossen, build the railway Thamshavnbanen between Løkken Verk and Thamshavn and operate the steam ship D/S Orkla between Thamshavn and Trondheim. After World War I the company also started with bus transport, and among other things started the company Trondhjem-Orkladal Billag.
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