page_title: Arktikugol
section_title: Cold War
hierarchical_section_title: Arktikugol / History / Cold War
caption_attribution_description: English: Barentsburg Heliport, Heerodden
context_page_description: Arktikugol is a Russian coal mining unitary enterprise which operates on the islands of Spitsbergen in Svalbard, Norway. Owned by the Government of Russia, Arktikugol currently has limited mining in Barentsburg. It has carried out mining operations and still owns the towns of Pyramiden and Grumant, with its port at Colesbukta. The company is headquartered in Moscow and is the official agency through which Russia, and previously the Soviet Union, exercised its Svalbard policy.
  The company was established on 7 October 1931 to take over all Soviet mining interests on Svalbard. At the time Grumant and Pyramiden were bought, although only Grumant was in operation. It also bought Barentsburg from Dutch interests. The company retained operation there and in Grumant until 1941, when all employees were evacuated to the mainland as part of Operation Gauntlet. Mining resumed in 1947 and commenced in Pyramiden in 1955. Declining coal deposits resulted in Grumant being closed in 1961.
  Throughout the 1960s to 80s Arktikugol carried out a series of oil drilling on the archipelago, but never succeeded at finding profitable reservoirs.
context_section_description: By the end of the war the settlement in Pyramiden was still standing. Barentsburg and Kapp Heer were destroyed and full reconstruction of the town was necessary. Grumant was in the same situation. The only structure that was usable was a water tower. Although an inspection was carried out in 1945, Arktikugol did not commence reconstruction until November 1946. It stationed an ice-breaker in Pyramiden to keep an ice-free path between the two towns. By the summer of 1947 there were 350 people working in Pyramiden, although mining had yet to commence. By November the populations had reached 500 in Pyramiden and Barentsburg, and 200 in Grumant. Barentsburg and Grumant were sufficiently rebuilt by 1948 to allow mining to commence. Prospecting was carried out in Colesbukta and by 1949 there were 2,438 Soviet citizens on the archipelago, of which 51 were children. Barentsburg had 1,180 people, Grumant 965 and Pyramiden 293.
  At the end of the war there was established a Soviet consulate in Pyramiden. It was moved to Barentsburg in 1950. A new dock, allowing 10,000-tonnes ships, was built in Colesbukta. Meanwhile, a railway line was being built between Grumant and Colesbukta, to allow the Grumant coal to be shipped out from the better port at Colesbukta. The Commissioner of Mines carried out annual inspections of all mines each summer. For the first time, Arktikugol attempted, in violation of the Mining Code, to hinder such an inspection on 10 July 1952. Arktikugol had also initiated simple 140-square-meter (1,500 sq ft) building at Kapp Boheman and broken 4,000 tonnes of coal. That year the mines in Barentsburg produced 130,000 tonnes and 122,000 tonnes were produced in Grumant.
  Production in Pyramiden commenced in 1955, with an output of 38,000 tonnes the first year. Two years later production there reached 107,000 tonnes, exceeding that of Grumant, at 93,000 tonnes. Along with Barentsburgs 193,000 tonnes, Arktikugols annual production reached 394,000 tonnes. The population in Pyramiden had reached 728, while it was 965 in Grumant and 1,039 in Barentsburg. Arktikugol built a new power station at Colesbukta, but the quality of the coal mined at Grumant was diminishing. The company therefore decided to terminate operations there from the fall of 1961 and abandon the settlements in Grumant and Colesbukta. In its final full year of production, in 1960, Grumant contributed with 125,000 tonnes of coal towards Arktikugol's total 480,000 tonnes. Grumant produced 73,000 tonnes in 1961, and featured a population 1,047 in 1959. The closing of Grumant resulted of a significant fall in the Russian population, from 2,667 people in 1960 to 1,700 in 1965. However, Arktikugol retained a small workforce at Grumant until 1967.
  The American oil company Caltex and later Norsk Polar Navigasjon commenced oil prospecting on Svalbard in 1960. This caught the interest of Soviet authorities, who started working on their own petroleum prospecting plans from 1962. Arktikugol was at the time not making any money from the coal mining, and it saw advantages of establishing an alternative, potentially more profitable industry. As in coal mining, the Svalbard Treaty hindered any non-discrimination compared with other country's economic activities. The company registered 71 petroleum claims in January 1963, based on geological indications. At the time there was uncertainty is this was sufficient, or if samples would need to be provided for the claims to be approved. The claims were rejected in May, but was met with protests as the Soviet Union claimed they were being discriminated against in comparison with Caltex. The issue received a temporary closing on 17 July 1965, when Arktikugol accepted to pay royalties on any production.
  Svalbard Airport, Longyear opened on 2 September 1975. An agreement is made so that Arktikugol can fly its workers to the mainland via the airport with Aeroflot. The airline also starts operating a helicopter shuttle service between Longyearbyen and Barentsburg with the construction of Barentsburg Heliport, Heerodden. A Soviet helicopte
caption: Barentsburg Heliport, Heerodden
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