The abandoned Kuokkel mining field near Kopparåsen

The Kuokkel mining field is an abandoned open pit mine located in the vicinity of the Kopparåsen railway station on the Iron Ore Line in Kiruna municipality, Sweden. Incorporated in 1897 by civil engineer Alwin Jacobi, the mine was intended to be a grand operation. Plans were made to process ore on-site, with hopes of employing a workforce of about 500 people, but these ambitions were not realized.

Operations took place between 1899 and 1906. While the Riksgränsen railway was completed in 1902 to connect to the Swedish-Norwegian border, the copper was too limited to make the Koukola Malmfält Company profitable. A planned cable car from the mine to the railway was never built. Mining work was small and was interrupted in 1904 following a severe explosion accident that took the lives of the Jansson brothers. The mine was completely abandoned in 1906.

Today, the plateau shows fractures with sharpenings and mining holes, with blown stones stacked in piles at each site. The work was carried out on chords paid at SEK 4.50 per cubic meter. Remains of a trench railway still exist, where small carts once moved stone and ore to a spalling place. While the company office and residential building are now privately owned, the site also contains leftovers for other buildings, including a peat Goahti used as a worker's residence. Just north of the Goahti are remains of a forge, gear, and tools.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons