Store Norske Gruve 3

13/08/2026

09/06/2026

The world football championship is just around the corner! We recently had some guests that came all the way from the southern most point in Africa, they wanted to visit the northern most point!

Norway hasn't been playing since 1998 and we even got supporters from South Africa! Thank you for the support!

P. S The mine tour doesn't crash with any of the matches, so if you are interested in booking a tour, visit our website for online booking! Gruve3.no

01/06/2026

Today's the day! We have opened up Taubanesentralen (The Cableway Central) for daily visits.

Monday to Friday
09:00 - 15:00

Purchase the tickets (day pass) online through the link in our bio, or directly with the guide on site.
We take card and Vipps.

When you have bought a ticket you can come at any point during our opening hours.

Looking forward welcoming you to the heart of Longyearbyen ⚒️

22/05/2026

Gruve 3 sitter nå med et enormt ansvar. Dagen etter Gruve 7 ble plombert 04.05.26, ble en veldig følelsesladet dag for oss guidene i gruve 3. Realiteten slo hardt. Vi er nå den eneste gruva og fjellet vi kan gå inn i. Venner, kolleger blir å flytte. Nå blir det kun minnene igjen. Ansvaret for å ta vare på den historien på 109 år med gruvedrift her på Svalbard ble en stor byrde å tenke over. Men det ansvaret skal vi ta. Vi skal sørge for at energien til de gamle gruvebusen blir forsatt og gjalle i fjellet for alltid. Dere blir aldri glemt! Takk til alle gruve arbeidere som har gitt oss historier vi kan fortelle, takk for det harde arbeidet dere har gjort gjennom 109 år som gjør at Longyearbyen eksisterer og er den byen den er i dag. Dere blir aldri glemt. Hilsen Guidene i Gruve 3

Mine 3 now has an enormous responsibility. The day after Mine 7 was sealed on 04.05.26, was a very emotional day for us guides in Mine 3. Reality hit hard. We are now the only mine and mountain we can enter. Friends, colleagues have to move. Now only the memories remain. The responsibility to take care of that history of 109 years of mining here in Svalbard was a big burden to think about. But we will take that responsibility. We will ensure that the energy of the old miners continues to resonate in the mountains forever. You will never be forgotten! Thank you to all the miners who have given us stories to tell, thank you for the hard work you have done over the 109 years that make Longyearbyen exist and is the city it is today. You will never be forgotten. Greetings, the Guides in Mine 3

05/05/2026

⚒️ 04.05.2026 ⚒️

Will forever be a date for the history books. Mine nr 7 was closed by sealing it.
The closing of the mine it self was done by "locking it" with chains and a padlock and then throwing the key into the rubble behind. The main tunnel itself was sealed with rocks and rubble to fysically close it off.

Some of the last mineworkers in mine nr 7 are pictured on the third photo.

The statue in the main street was decorated to honor the mineworkers!

Mine nr 7 was started in 1966, so it turned 60 years this year. The closing of mine nr 7 isn't just the closing of the mine, but it's also the end of an era. 109 years of mining is now history.

Hats off to all of the mine workers from Mine nr 7, you will be remembered!

11/02/2026

Even if there's no more mining in Longyearbyen, there is still some activity! For the past few days, this ship have been at the coal harbor to pick up some of the remaining coal!

28/08/2025

On Svalbard you can find deposits from many time periods. The coal extracted in Mine 3 comes from the Longyear Coal Seam. This was formed 61,5 million years ago during the Early Tertiary period, marked in yellow on the map. Back then Svalbard was already in the Arctic but it was covered by lush swamps and forests in a much warmer climate. The coal is bituminous, rich in energy, and formed from ancient peat buried and compressed over time. On a guided tour of Mine No. 3 you will not only step into the mining history, but also the remains of the former landscape.

15/08/2025

Longyearbyen began as a male dominated mining town. It’s quite possible that the first women to enter the mine came in paper form. We call these clippings eye-resters, images that were pinned up in break rooms and lunch areas inside the mountain. They gave the miners something pleasant to rest their eyes on between shifts in the cold and dark mountain. When women eventually began working inside the mines as cleaning ladies, not everyone appreciated these decorations. Still, the miners stood their ground, and today, you can still spot a few eye-resters on guided tours of Taubanesentralen or in Mine 3.

06/08/2025

Located on Carl Lundh Mountain between Todalen and Bolterdalen, Mine 6 had its entrance at around 325 meters above sea level. Test tunnels were driven here in the summer of 1965, and the coal quality proved promising. On June 17, 1966, the Norwegian Parliament allocated NOK 10.9 million for initial development.

Mining started in 1967, and full production began in 1969 with eight regular low drift longwall faces. Operations ceased in 1981, with an estimated 380,000 tonnes of saleable coal left in thin seams deep inside the mine. Reopening is considered unlikely due to high costs and inefficiency. Store Norske mothballed the mine to focus efforts on Mine 3 and Mine 7. As part of the clean-up of the now closed Mine 7, the area around Mine 6 will also be removed of potential environmental toxins.

30/07/2025

Mine No. 5 was the first mine Store Norske opened outside of the Longyear Valley. The entrance and facility is located in the Endalen Valley around 10 km from Longyearbyen and production began in 1959. A major infrastructure effort followed with roads, power lines, a telephone line, and a new aerial cableway terminal all completed between 1956 and 1958. Mine No. 5 introduced a new method of coal extraction retreating longwall mining, which proved to be much more efficient than the previous advancing longwall technique. Productivity nearly doubled compared to the older mines. The mine is also known by another name, King Olav Vs Mine. Production ended in 1972.