Elkem Thamshavn
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Elkem Thamshavn is a smelting plant owned by Elkem located at Thamshavn just north of Orkanger, Norway. The plant produces ferrosilicon and microsilica and was started in 1931.
[edit] History
In the Løkken Mines there had been excavated copper and sulfur since 1654 that had to be freighted down to Orkanger and onwards to Europe by ship. In 1867 the the local farmer Wilhelm Thams built a sawmill at Thamshavn, and the place was named after him. He, his grandson Christian Thams and his accountant Christian Salvesen bought the mines at Løkken Verk in 1904 and constructed a railway, Thamshavnbanen, from the mine and down the 25 km to the port at Thamshavn. In 1931 Orkla Metall was opened, officially owned by the subsidiary Chr. Salvesen & Chr. Thams's Communications Aktieselskab that also owned the railway and the hydro electric power plant.
The original function of the plant was to smelt the pyrites from the mine into sulphur and copper matte. This lasted until 1962 when the plant closed. But in 1964 it reopened with a new furnace for ferrosilicon production, with a second furnace opening in 1981. The company was acquired by Elkem in 1986, that was bought by the original owner, Orkla Group, in 2005.
