Kleva mine in Skede, Vetlanda Community, Småland

In 1691 a poor churchwarden from Skede took a walk on the mountain Kleva and found something glittering in a stone that seemed to be gold. The stone was analysed but the ore’s gold content was low, but the ore contained copper and the mining started. They began by digging down from top of the mountain (this is the shaft that leads to the Big Pit). However, the copper was of bad quality. The was mine shut down and lay dormant several times. In the year 1838 a new analysis of an ore sample showed that the content of nickel was higher than that of copper and it was recommended to win nickel rather than copper. The so called nickel-period of the Kleva mine started in 1845. In the years 1876-77 that the largest amounts of ore were mined. At the same time large deposits of nickel were discovered in New Caledonia whixh lead
to a dramatic fall in nickel prices. The production shut down but was continued irregularly until 1920 when the mine was closed finally. During World War II ore was melted in order to get nickel for the production of ammunition.