I'm from Sweden, and I have been in Ädelfors many times but I have never gotten the chance to get such a nice lecture how everything worked those days when the mines were worked, but I have been in the same mine were you guys went. It was really interesting, and Rolf did a nice job guiding 😊
Also been there several times, there are many more water filled shafts and at least one more as some you can rapell into.. In the area there are also several other mines one can enter.
I second that opinion! I reflected on the same thing in my post. The ingenuity involved, especially with the use of logs over 2 km to use the power of, and move, water that far was astounding!
My dad has been working underground all his life here in sweden from the age of 15 and now just shy of being 70 and retired ofc, from mining iron to making commercial tunnels for traffic etc. I've only recently since around 2020 started getting interested in all of this stuff myself, so this was a really good and super interesting video to see! Would be really fun to see you bring Rolf to your goldmine or collab with brett and go down in cerro gordo aswell :D
Very nice! Appreciate your visits to Sweden. I have learned a lot about Swedish gold prospecting (and your other gold prospecting videos) just by watching your videos. I visited the Sala silver mine several years ago. It was an impressive mine with a guided tour that I can recommend.
What a creative thinking they had back in the days. Smelting bricks are the result of finding a use for it combined with lots of basic tools combined with inspiration. I just love the old stories... 👍🔝
I was floored, beginning to end, on the history of this mine. The incredibly hard labor used to make it seems so little in its totality; creating ways to make, reuse, and invent ways to overcome problems were an added cherry on the cherry pie for me. Fascinating!
Apparently it's called Flat rod system in English. ( Stånggång or Konstgång in Swedish ) Pretty common in mid Sweden back in the days before steam power But then again we had all types of mines everywhere and plenty of small rivers. Longest ones was way over a mile
When you visit a European museum you get a real feel for time. Considering how many generations have passed since they first started mining copper, there's a really good chance that many of the viewers have ancestors from around there.
I‘ve hiked through areas where there are pits and slag left from the late iron age and the romans. The famine he describes was what followed the year without a summer. Horrendous conditions in Europe.
As an ex-placer gold miner in BC, I find this stuff absolutely amazing. The physical 'manpower' required just staggers me. If you ever get the chance, go check-out the Roman gold mines in Wales. Fascinating!
Nice way to spend couple rainy days, with great company..... Rolf enjoys life, and is good to listen to.... Thanks Jason for another fantastic video 🙏 👏👏👏👏
Its a common myth that they poored water on to the hot stone surface when they made the stoll's ( addits ) but they really did not do that. Working in a mine like that the last thing you would want is more smoke or steam since they had to work there at the same time. They would set up big fires against the surface. Its called the fire setting metode. They would make a separate smoke channel a lot of times against the ceiling leading the smoke separeted to the lichtloch ( smoke and ventilation channel to the surface ). When the fire had burned out they would go at it at once when the surface was really hot, and then chip away. They often did wear almost no clothes cause the warm environment except a pair of wood shoes that could isolate from the warm stones and a apron from leather. They were working naked some times. The fire setting metode was orginated from Germany around the Sachsen area and thats why the german names on adits, shaft etc are being often used. Greetings from Norway
Thank you for the Swedish Gold Class Tours this is awesome something I would never have seen or even of guests of Sweden and the old country have been doing this for millennials something awesome to learn
What a historical adventure Jason, I remember the panning contest video, they had it going on back in the day in Sweden, and all those tailings which they are going to process in the future...thanks for the adventure, totally amazing! ⚒️⛏️⚖️👍🤠
Jason, Great video, such an interesting look at gold mining in Europe. The accomplished a lot and it was quite sophisticated in some cases. Thank you, Rik Spector
Jason, I absolutely love this video! The "richest gold history of all time" it should be called! 😮 The old buildings, the ingenuity, the brick making, the museum's of royal cabinets and samples, and.... I could go on! What an incredible adventure this was for you and thank you so much for sharing it! Just one question though, if you know the answer: If portions of this mine has proven to be 1k+ grams of Au/my, then why hasn't anyone opened new connecting tunnels to retrieve some? I am not saying to disturb history; absolutely not! I'm wondering why a different area is not made to connect. 🤔If I wasn't disabled, I'd be digging up more all over the place for processing with your equipment! I send blessings from Alabama ❤️
I hear these stories and I wonder how these people pulled off such massive projects, and then I learn that it took them 10 years to dig a single connecting tunnel. Than it kinda adds up. These days we wouldn't even dream of spending 10 years on a tunnel...
Well it depends how much expense and maintenance it required to keep the headframe and winches and cables going safely, and powered, compared to dragging ore out horizontally. 10 years of fire cracking may still be cheaper and possibly easier (and maybe/likely find some parallel veins along the way). Usually it's just the least difficult of the very difficult things to do. Almost exactly how the tunnel blasting at the Lightning Quartz mine to intersect the rise for a hauling shortcut is net gain even though it's a lot of work, it's less than hauling all the ore out the other long way with several chute drops.
Apparently it's called a flatrod system in English. Very common all over mid Sweden for many hundreds of years where we had plenty of mines plenty of small rivers. Some even survived until today. One of the longest ones transported power almost 2,5 km roughly 1.5 miles.
Great video on some historic mining ! Cornwall in the UK is a huge area for tin and copper, lots of the mine incredible ruins are still left. Would be great a place to do a video on.
Transfering the rotational energy from the water wheel to that of a reciprocating motion (like a reciprocating saw does) is genuis to transfer the energy over long distances, using a direction of force the logs would be very strong in, vs rotational force which they would be much weaker in. Love it.
Is there a photo/video you could direct me to that shows what the guide was talking about, in terms of the water wheel, like what would that look like? I don't understand the saw analogy. Ty
@@BigoBruski think of it like a lot of medieval battering ram's connected together. Big logs hanging with rope from big beams. They all swing as one big unit together. The gearbox converts water wheel rotation to reciprocating motion with a camshaft like on a car engine. It pushesall of the logs back and fourth, allowing huge amounts of force to travel around. Then that motion is used where necessary like with a con-rod style (again like you would see in a car engine)
@@BigoBruskiSearch for "stånggång" or "Konstgång" that's the Swedish words. Apparently called flatrod system in English. Longest ones was well over a mile.
Very Interesting. I remember that a couple of years ago I made steel Carat Stamps for gold and Hallmark Stamps for the Swedish Royal Family. Wonder if they used it with Swedish gold. I´m still making dozens of Steel Stamps per year for Swedish jewellers and goldsmiths.
Learning about interesting tourist destinations in my own country from an American channel. Both funny and much appreciated! Also funny to hear Rolf get "alchemistry" wrong hahah. In Swedish "chemistry" is "kemi" while "alchemy" is "alkemi". One would be forgiven as a Swede for thinking that the tail of the word should be extended to "-chemistry" for "alchemy" too.
At 29:17 did anyone else think of Gimli when Aragorn and Legolas went into the cave and he stayed outside, then had to talk himself into going in (Return of the King)? 🤣😂
Our spring water comes from what was going to be a Cornish Copper Gold mine located on Stamford Hill, Saint Catherine, Jamaica. The construction of the mine began in 1850 but was put on care and maintenance 10 years later due to the inability to raise capital to buy the necessary equipment to dewater the development. In that time period they were able to drive a Six m dia shaft 260 m complete two adits servicing 8 levels. Pure water flows out at a rate of 3 gallons per minute that is pumped 650 ft uphill for bottling.
ty it was interesting, good quality, n1! as an europian i always wandering about the fact, that America was not mined before us.. huge economic impact and so
Hey i know a old gold mine thats abondoned in sweden near Ramsjö Hälsingland Enåsen closed in 1991 back then it was europes only active goldmine till then there is videos here on RUclips u can see when it was in operation and also new vido ppl dive in the mine pit water is blue and clear also i live nerer the mine were Nickle was first found
I'm not really surprised that the tactics used by those old swedish miners are nearly identical to the old american miners, because they're doing the same job, in the same basic environment, hunting for the same objective. Human ingenuity will usually find the lowest-cost, most effective way to achieve the goals.
Many of the old US miners did come from Sweden after all... Sweden was the world's largest producer of copper at times and Over 50% of the world's total production was from the Falun mine ( as they mention in the video. ) around year 1650. We was also one of the worlds largest producers of iron ore from the middleages and onwards until mid 1800's.
Yes there will always be friction and inertia losses. Electricity works the same except instead of reciprocating logs it's electrons chugging back and forth between metal valences, and the friction there is called resistance, and the inertia is called impedance. The logs would be alternating current, a belt drive would be direct current (where impedance doesn't happen, no reciprocating).
In urban exploration we have a rule that everyone carries at least two lights, often a headlamp and a flashlight. There is the old saying that "two is one, one is none". That he was in the mine before on purpose with zero lights, and did this trip with just his cell phone, it is not a good sign of him having an uneventful life in tunnels.
Not far a lot of great innventions originates from Sweeden, but most of the old mining innventions from that time originates from Germany. Germany, where would we be with out their innventions? 😊
@@marineperformance6114Well true, the German military also liked Swedish steel. It's a well known fact it was far better than the french ore you got in 1940. Much purer and consumed less resources. 😉
That's an interesting tidbit of information... that Swedes migrated to America because of a 3 yr famine.... I wonder if that's why and when my Swedish relatives came... family oral history has been lost to time.
The famine of 1867-1869 triggered the great wave of emigration, but emigration continued until about the 1920's, so there is a big chance your ancestors left later than the actual famine. Since the 1920's there has been a trickle of Swedes moving to the US with currently about 150 000 Swedish citizens permanently residing in the US.
Well back then they did have those pumps going, it is only so wet now because running pumps is expensive when not seriously working the mine, so the access tunnel is the passive drainage creek.
The slagbricks predates the dynamite, Sweden was largely running out of wood, almost no forest left at all due to burning it on top of veins and pouring water on it to make it crack. Making these slagbricks ensured that less precius wood would be used in construction.
I'm from Sweden, and I have been in Ädelfors many times but I have never gotten the chance to get such a nice lecture how everything worked those days when the mines were worked, but I have been in the same mine were you guys went. It was really interesting, and Rolf did a nice job guiding 😊
We should get a huge pump and go down to clear that water out....
(Im heading down there this summer to have another look)
Also been there several times, there are many more water filled shafts and at least one more as some you can rapell into.. In the area there are also several other mines one can enter.
Remarkable in every way. The history, technology, museum, mine, and tour. A brilliant presentation. Big thanks for putting it together.
I second that opinion! I reflected on the same thing in my post. The ingenuity involved, especially with the use of logs over 2 km to use the power of, and move, water that far was astounding!
Second time watching...
My dad has been working underground all his life here in sweden from the age of 15 and now just shy of being 70 and retired ofc, from mining iron to making commercial tunnels for traffic etc.
I've only recently since around 2020 started getting interested in all of this stuff myself, so this was a really good and super interesting video to see!
Would be really fun to see you bring Rolf to your goldmine or collab with brett and go down in cerro gordo aswell :D
Very nice! Appreciate your visits to Sweden. I have learned a lot about Swedish gold prospecting (and your other gold prospecting videos) just by watching your videos. I visited the Sala silver mine several years ago. It was an impressive mine with a guided tour that I can recommend.
Guldström is a good name for a guy like that👍🏼
"Goldstream" 😂
Damn imagine getting to shower at that guys place @@reallivebluescat
What a creative thinking they had back in the days.
Smelting bricks are the result of finding a use for it combined with lots of basic tools combined with inspiration.
I just love the old stories... 👍🔝
I was floored, beginning to end, on the history of this mine. The incredibly hard labor used to make it seems so little in its totality; creating ways to make, reuse, and invent ways to overcome problems were an added cherry on the cherry pie for me. Fascinating!
Ive lived in the woods most of my life and never thought of using logs as pistons. This is so interesting I love it. ❤
Apparently it's called Flat rod system in English.
( Stånggång or Konstgång in Swedish )
Pretty common in mid Sweden back in the days before steam power
But then again we had all types of mines everywhere and plenty of small rivers.
Longest ones was way over a mile
You can tell these guys are having a good time. Really good energy.
Another great adventure. Thank you Jason
When you visit a European museum you get a real feel for time. Considering how many generations have passed since they first started mining copper, there's a really good chance that many of the viewers have ancestors from around there.
I‘ve hiked through areas where there are pits and slag left from the late iron age and the romans.
The famine he describes was what followed the year without a summer. Horrendous conditions in Europe.
As an ex-placer gold miner in BC, I find this stuff absolutely amazing. The physical 'manpower' required just staggers me. If you ever get the chance, go check-out the Roman gold mines in Wales. Fascinating!
Nice way to spend couple rainy days, with great company.....
Rolf enjoys life, and is good to listen to....
Thanks Jason for another fantastic video 🙏 👏👏👏👏
fascinating adventure thanks jason, and thanks to your guide rolf excellent tour..
Rolf Goldstream, what a fitting name
Its a common myth that they poored water on to the hot stone surface when they made the stoll's ( addits ) but they really did not do that. Working in a mine like that the last thing you would want is more smoke or steam since they had to work there at the same time. They would set up big fires against the surface. Its called the fire setting metode. They would make a separate smoke channel a lot of times against the ceiling leading the smoke separeted to the lichtloch ( smoke and ventilation channel to the surface ). When the fire had burned out they would go at it at once when the surface was really hot, and then chip away. They often did wear almost no clothes cause the warm environment except a pair of wood shoes that could isolate from the warm stones and a apron from leather. They were working naked some times. The fire setting metode was orginated from Germany around the Sachsen area and thats why the german names on adits, shaft etc are being often used. Greetings from Norway
Thank you for the Swedish Gold Class Tours this is awesome something I would never have seen or even of guests of Sweden and the old country have been doing this for millennials something awesome to learn
Christopher Polhem was a great inventor and engineer👍🏻
What a historical adventure Jason, I remember the panning contest video, they had it going on back in the day in Sweden, and all those tailings which they are going to process in the future...thanks for the adventure, totally amazing! ⚒️⛏️⚖️👍🤠
Jason,
Great video, such an interesting look at gold mining in Europe.
The accomplished a lot and it was quite sophisticated in some cases.
Thank you,
Rik Spector
Very interesting History. thx for sharing Jason.
The alchemy he was breaking down was awesome salute great video
I really enjoyed this video, thanks very much.
Outstanding video. Thanks for all the work to produce and post it.
WOW Tack så mycket mbmmllc!
Jason, I absolutely love this video! The "richest gold history of all time" it should be called! 😮 The old buildings, the ingenuity, the brick making, the museum's of royal cabinets and samples, and.... I could go on! What an incredible adventure this was for you and thank you so much for sharing it! Just one question though, if you know the answer: If portions of this mine has proven to be 1k+ grams of Au/my, then why hasn't anyone opened new connecting tunnels to retrieve some? I am not saying to disturb history; absolutely not! I'm wondering why a different area is not made to connect. 🤔If I wasn't disabled, I'd be digging up more all over the place for processing with your equipment! I send blessings from Alabama ❤️
Thanks Jason- that’s a great place to visit
I love the history and mining perspectives from other times and countries! Amazing Swedish ingenuity for real! ♥
Fascinating Jason! Thx for the excursion!
I hear these stories and I wonder how these people pulled off such massive projects, and then I learn that it took them 10 years to dig a single connecting tunnel. Than it kinda adds up. These days we wouldn't even dream of spending 10 years on a tunnel...
Well it depends how much expense and maintenance it required to keep the headframe and winches and cables going safely, and powered, compared to dragging ore out horizontally. 10 years of fire cracking may still be cheaper and possibly easier (and maybe/likely find some parallel veins along the way). Usually it's just the least difficult of the very difficult things to do. Almost exactly how the tunnel blasting at the Lightning Quartz mine to intersect the rise for a hauling shortcut is net gain even though it's a lot of work, it's less than hauling all the ore out the other long way with several chute drops.
Thanks for posting this, very good stuff.
Did i hear the beginning of a joke??? "A Swede, a Brit, and an American walk into a mine." What a cool adventure!
Bellman…. 😂
Love the crusher and sluice box setup
Thanks for sharing from Australia stay safe
that log power transfer sounds like a jack line in the old oil fields
Apparently it's called a flatrod system in English.
Very common all over mid Sweden for many hundreds of years where we had plenty of mines plenty of small rivers.
Some even survived until today.
One of the longest ones transported power almost 2,5 km roughly 1.5 miles.
Im Swedish but all this is new to me. Thanks for the video!
That greasy grey look to the quartz is what I look for when looking for gold rich veins. Pure white is usually barren.
Super cool tour,thanks again Jason,can't wait till next one😊
great video Jason
Great video on some historic mining ! Cornwall in the UK is a huge area for tin and copper, lots of the mine incredible ruins are still left. Would be great a place to do a video on.
You have a lifelong friend when you get time like this with someone
So cool brother J
Cool tour Jason, thanks for taking us along... Happy 🦃day all, let us give thanks.
Dynamite is actually a Swedish innovation 🧨
Next time in Sweden come up north to Boliden and check out our current modern day gold mines.
Jason What great video !
Incredible. The beam/piston pumps and lifts were used in the UK too.
There are even a few of the old oak hoists left in workings.
Transfering the rotational energy from the water wheel to that of a reciprocating motion (like a reciprocating saw does) is genuis to transfer the energy over long distances, using a direction of force the logs would be very strong in, vs rotational force which they would be much weaker in. Love it.
I'm just imagining some kids sitting on the logs having a blast as they swing
Is there a photo/video you could direct me to that shows what the guide was talking about, in terms of the water wheel, like what would that look like? I don't understand the saw analogy. Ty
@@BigoBruski think of it like a lot of medieval battering ram's connected together. Big logs hanging with rope from big beams. They all swing as one big unit together. The gearbox converts water wheel rotation to reciprocating motion with a camshaft like on a car engine. It pushesall of the logs back and fourth, allowing huge amounts of force to travel around. Then that motion is used where necessary like with a con-rod style (again like you would see in a car engine)
@ABoringTool wow I would LOVE to see that. Sounds like a water park ride 🤗 plus gold. Ty for the visual, I got it.
@@BigoBruskiSearch for "stånggång" or "Konstgång" that's the Swedish words.
Apparently called flatrod system in English.
Longest ones was well over a mile.
Incredible stories they have
I think I know where Im planning my next travel to. Man what a nice place to visit.
Very cool video. Thanks for sharing
I Love your video's!! Great stuff again!!
Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family
Very Interesting.
I remember that a couple of years ago I made steel Carat Stamps for gold and Hallmark Stamps for the Swedish Royal Family.
Wonder if they used it with Swedish gold.
I´m still making dozens of Steel Stamps per year for Swedish jewellers and goldsmiths.
Cool little mineral adventure
Should send them a piece of MBMM ore for their collection
With the alchemy symbols maybe just send a box of air, which would be the element of indifference, "Ether Ore".
Thanks for the sights and history lesson Jason!
Now that's some tailings i could really dig! 😂😂😂
Hur många svenskar är här ?
Oklart.
Fascinating video.
Adelfors not the first goldmine, rather one of many, world heritage Falu copper mine also produced gold predating the viking era.
Great content! If you ever get microphones, your videos will be epic!
Learning about interesting tourist destinations in my own country from an American channel. Both funny and much appreciated! Also funny to hear Rolf get "alchemistry" wrong hahah. In Swedish "chemistry" is "kemi" while "alchemy" is "alkemi". One would be forgiven as a Swede for thinking that the tail of the word should be extended to "-chemistry" for "alchemy" too.
Great video
I found the story about the engineering of the water wheels transferred motion through poles for tha water pump to be interesting solution.
At 29:17 did anyone else think of Gimli when Aragorn and Legolas went into the cave and he stayed outside, then had to talk himself into going in (Return of the King)? 🤣😂
Our spring water comes from what was going to be a Cornish Copper Gold mine located on Stamford Hill, Saint Catherine, Jamaica. The construction of the mine began in 1850 but was put on care and maintenance 10 years later due to the inability to raise capital to buy the necessary equipment to dewater the development. In that time period they were able to drive a Six m dia shaft 260 m complete two adits servicing 8 levels. Pure water flows out at a rate of 3 gallons per minute that is pumped 650 ft uphill for bottling.
ty it was interesting, good quality, n1! as an europian i always wandering about the fact, that America was not mined before us.. huge economic impact and so
Fascinating! I wish you had better lighting for the mine exploration portion... couldn't hardly see crap! 😔 👍
Haha. I live 1h away and didn't know of this. Thanks!
Hey i know a old gold mine thats abondoned in sweden near Ramsjö Hälsingland Enåsen closed in 1991 back then it was europes only active goldmine till then there is videos here on RUclips u can see when it was in operation and also new vido ppl dive in the mine pit water is blue and clear also i live nerer the mine were Nickle was first found
thanks Brother,
We like His-Story ...
I'm not really surprised that the tactics used by those old swedish miners are nearly identical to the old american miners, because they're doing the same job, in the same basic environment, hunting for the same objective. Human ingenuity will usually find the lowest-cost, most effective way to achieve the goals.
Many of the old US miners did come from Sweden after all...
Sweden was the world's largest producer of copper at times and
Over 50% of the world's total production was from the Falun mine ( as they mention in the video. ) around year 1650.
We was also one of the worlds largest producers of iron ore from the middleages and onwards until mid 1800's.
Nooo, rain is not a typical Swedish weather. 😅 No no, far away as it is rainy in Ireland. You just had a bad weather day that day. 😃
Yooooo easy with the stick?! Your getting excited 😂😂
Hey from Australia I think they might need a shaker table and front end loader and get to it!
The transfer of work was like that. I've seen a lot of this. I think that using mechanical systems to transfer work still results in losses.
Yes there will always be friction and inertia losses. Electricity works the same except instead of reciprocating logs it's electrons chugging back and forth between metal valences, and the friction there is called resistance, and the inertia is called impedance. The logs would be alternating current, a belt drive would be direct current (where impedance doesn't happen, no reciprocating).
The one in Säter was 15hp by the wheel and 3hp by the pumps.
But then it was 2,5km long also...
702 👍's up mbmmllc thank you for sharing 🤗
Need/can to drill holes into the wall for ladders for easier climbs. at 36:21 that part
In urban exploration we have a rule that everyone carries at least two lights, often a headlamp and a flashlight. There is the old saying that "two is one, one is none". That he was in the mine before on purpose with zero lights, and did this trip with just his cell phone, it is not a good sign of him having an uneventful life in tunnels.
Set up your system and process those tailings!
@4:42 i think he misspoke on the paint topic it is not coppersulfate he meant ironsulfate, coppersulfate is blue not red.
Ädelfors is in south end of the my neck of the woods.
Swedish engineering...where would we be without it?
Not far a lot of great innventions originates from Sweeden, but most of the old mining innventions from that time originates from Germany. Germany, where would we be with out their innventions? 😊
@@marineperformance6114Well true, the German military also liked Swedish steel. It's a well known fact it was far better than the french ore you got in 1940.
Much purer and consumed less resources. 😉
That's an interesting tidbit of information... that Swedes migrated to America because of a 3 yr famine.... I wonder if that's why and when my Swedish relatives came... family oral history has been lost to time.
The famine of 1867-1869 triggered the great wave of emigration, but emigration continued until about the 1920's, so there is a big chance your ancestors left later than the actual famine.
Since the 1920's there has been a trickle of Swedes moving to the US with currently about 150 000 Swedish citizens permanently residing in the US.
1100g of gold per ton. That´s more than 90.000,- Euro today.
How much gold did they mine there in total?
200-250kg in total. It's a really small mine after all.
Stone 😮
Awesome
maravilha Jeremias aqui da garimpohobby brazil⛏⛏⛏
Swedish rock...is that ABBA ?
Interesting
a fine presentation, you two...y'see how I did that?...what?!
Wow!
Wow 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
A good Sweed can tame the wild
2sweeds a brit and an American enter a portal sounds like the start of a really bad miners joke 😂
Can you imagine mucking out all of the ore walking through the water with the footwear of 200 yrs ago?
Well back then they did have those pumps going, it is only so wet now because running pumps is expensive when not seriously working the mine, so the access tunnel is the passive drainage creek.
The slagbricks predates the dynamite, Sweden was largely running out of wood, almost no forest left at all due to burning it on top of veins and pouring water on it to make it crack. Making these slagbricks ensured that less precius wood would be used in construction.
Do you think there's any value left in the bricks You didn't happen to run a gold meter over it did you..?
40 oz per ton with a one foot vain ??
1,1 kilo per ton..
💙💛
Isn't all gold vintage.😊