close cultural and economic ties between the two countries.3 Sweden had successfully manoeuvred to avoid entering the Second World War. After the war, with the rest of Europe in ruins Swedish industry was ready to expand internationally. The mining cluster had developed into what was called the “Swedish Method” and this became the foundation for a quick expansion around the world. The “Swedish Method” combined light and efficient mechanical drills with tungsten carbide hardened drill bits operated by one mine worker only (Gårdlund et al. 1973, Hult et al. 1989). Figure 2. The tungsten technology had been brought to Sweden from Germany by Jewish researchers fleeing Nazi persecution. The Swedish government’s initiative to develop huge underground rock excavations as bomb shelters and entire underground industries gave opportunities to test and refine the new technology in practice. A fruitful cooperation between government and industry. During the 1950s and 60s the “Swedish method” became the foundation for a successful globalisation of the equipment suppliers Atlas Copco (now Epiroc) and Sandvik. Today they are undisputed global leaders in underground mining technology (Löf 2025). Other world class technology companies are Metso:Outotec (Finland) and FLS (Denmark). The abundance of energy to power mining and smelting has been of crucial importance to the growth of the Nordic cluster. Historically vast forests, streams and rivers were used to power the mines, the steel works and the smelters. In the 20th century hydroelectricity and nuclear power together with efficient operations and early consideration of the environment have turned the Nordic countries into global leaders of environmentally friendly production of metals of high quality. The high general cost levels in Sweden and Finland have forced the mining companies to become more and more productive. The mining cluster has gradually managed to increase productivity in a positive spiral. In order for the mines to stay profitable they were forced to adopt new technologies and use the best equipment. The mining companies, mainly the state-owned iron ore producer LKAB and the listed base and precious metals producer Boliden, became highly qualified and demanding buyers of technology and equipment necessary to keep reducing operating costs to survive. In this way they put tough and stringent demands on the original equipment manufacturers (OEM), which were forced to continuously develop new machinery and methods to meet the continuously tougher demands of the mining companies. A fruitful competitive cooperation. The mining companies survived and became more competitive, and the OEMs could export the technologies and 3 Until 1809 Finland constituted the eastern part of the kingdom of Sweden. It became an independent country in 1918. 173
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