VESLEGRUVA ("The little mine")
The mine history in Espedalen stretches all the way back to the 1660s. In 1666 the Danish-norwegian minister Ulrik Frederik Gyldenløve got permition from the Danish king to start mining in Espedalen. But the mine was closed down after only 6 years. At that time is was copper they were looking for, but the findings were very small. Veslegruva is from this period.
The copper ore in this mine was mined by hand with the help of fire. Large fires was light close to the rock walls. When the rock was warm enough one could, thanks to the vibrations in the mountain, get the rock to crack just by hitting it with a sledgehammer.

ESPEDALEN NICKEL MINES
Espedalens grand period as a mining society came in the years of 1840-50s.
In 1846 mining for nickel was started. In a short period of time Espedalen was the worlds largest nickel producer. During two periods, 1845-1867 and 1874-1888 many hundred workers were tied to the nickel mining industry in the valley, at the most over a thousand people.

The mines is found in the Sør-Fron and Gausdal districts. There were several mines in the area, amongst others Evansgruva, Veslegruva, Andreasberg and Bjellku. Most of the mines were on the east side of the lake Espedalsvatnet.

The largest mine was Stangsgruva. Pyrite containing waist was dumped outside. The waist tip lies in steep terrain and drains water to the small river Megrundsbekken that leads to the lake Espedalsvatnet.
The quarry is probably drained by a water toll that today is covered by tip-fillings. In a creek below the tip it is measured 1 mg nickel and 189 µg copper per liter.

Espedalen was in these short periods a centre for mining industry. Findings have both local historical, geological and industrial historical interest to this day. A Canadian company started in 2003 new searches in Espedalen to see if there are usable sources of nickel in the mountain with today's technology.