About us

History

The mining company Franzefoss Minerals is a wholly family-owned group with a long and exciting history. Here is a brief summary of our history.

• Our business started in 1919 when W. B. Markussen built Franzefoss Kalkmølle based on a local lime deposit at Franzefossen in the Sandvikselven river in Bærum. He personally owned the company until 1936, when it was taken over by his son, Sverre Markussen, and converted to the limited liability company Franzefoss Bruk AS.
• The company experienced strong growth after the war, dealing in lime, crushed stone and, later, concrete and asphalt, with a number of facilities in Eastern Norway and in Northern Norway.
• In 1973, Sverre Markussen’s six children took over the company with equal shares, under the leadership of Olav Markussen. Growth continued and the company also moved into silicate minerals and recycling, but eventually moved out of asphalt and concrete.
• Our first limestone operation outside of Franzefoss was the construction of our Ballangen plant in 1979–80, based on nine years of trial operations related to the dolomite deposit at Hekkelstrand in Ofoten.
• In 1982, we took over operations at the Hylla Kalkverk lime works in Inderøy from the Buch family, who had run the company since its inception in 1897. The business became part of Verdalskalk AS in 1991.
• In 1983, the Berg family took over the Ringerike Kalkverk lime works at Åsa, and in 1995, the Sandbakken family took over the Hole Kalkverk lime works at Bøverbru.
• The feldspar/quartz plant in Lillesand and the olivine plant at Bryggja were taken over by the Bjørum family in 1988. This business was incorporated into North Cape Minerals AS in 1994–95, where it acquired a 16 per cent stake, which was reduced to 11 per cent in 2004.
• In 2004, NorFraKalk was formed together with Nordkalk to produce high quality lime for PCC (Precipitated Calcium Carbonate) for paper and other special industrial purposes.
• In 2005, one and a third of the ownership branches in Franzefoss Bruk AS were eliminated through the company’s purchase of treasury shares. Three of the branches formed the company Franzefoss AS, sold their shares in Franzefoss Bruk AS and bought Franzefoss Pukk AS, Franzefoss Gjenvinning AS and Franzefossbyen from the same company. The two remaining branches, represented by Gunnar and Olav Markussen and family, formed the company Franzefoss Minerals AS. This company then acquired all shares in Franzefoss Bruk AS, which included all lime and mineral-based activities, as well as the original lime mill at Franzefossen. The lime mill is now a cultural centre in Bærum.
• The lime business has since grown into a robust group in the form of Franzefoss Minerals AS, with three robust production companies, competent staff resources and a sales organisation.
• We have grown from 103 employees in 2005 to 171 employees in 2018, moving into new markets and opening new production plants.

The lime group will be 100 years old in 2019, and we are looking forward to another 100 years.

Organization

Franzefoss Minerals group is the holding company of Franzefoss Minerals AS 100%, Olav Ingstadsv. 5 AS 100% Franzefoss Bruk AS 100% Verdalskalk AS 55% NorFraKalk AS 50%

Franzefoss Minerals AS (100%) is a production company  based in Ballangen, Hole and Eydehavn

Franzefoss Bruk AS is the holding company for Verdalskalk AS (55%), which is a production company for the shareholders based on the Tromsdal lime. Other owners are Faxe Kalk AS (35%) and Nordkalk Oy Ab (10%)

 NorFraKalk AS (50%) is an associate company producing quick lime for the shareholders. The other shareholder is Nordkalk Oy Ab.

 Olav Ingstadsvei 5 AS is the group’s property company at Rud in Bærum

Geological resources

The mineral industry includes businesses that extract and process rocks and minerals from solid rock or uncompacted deposits.

As one of Norway’s leading suppliers of lime, dolomite and crushed rock, Franzefoss Minerals has a great responsibility.

We are aware of the strains we place on society, but we also know that society needs lime. This brings with it a constant duty to be a responsible corporate citizen and to do our best to contribute to sustainable value creation. We rely on long-term and predictable framework conditions to manage our resources from a 100-year perspective. Close dialogue and close cooperation with local politicians and stakeholders are crucial for our success. As a mining company and regional industry, we also generate positive ripple effects in terms of value creation for subcontractors and the communities where we operate.

Long-term management of our resources

As a mining company, we must have long-term strategies for our business based on our responsibility for contributing to sustainable development.

Extracting natural resources should give us optimal value with the least possible impact, and we must safeguard the future use of the affected area.

Our modern society bases its standard of living on technology and industrial products, which rely on deliveries of many different industrial materials. Lime and dolomite products are an important category of industrial products and, in addition to being the raw materials for various processes, they have properties that provide positive environmental effects in a number of processes. Producing these environmental products involves the extraction of non-renewable resources and processing activities that entail both energy consumption and the risk of emissions to our environment.

It is our responsibility to ensure that our raw materials and products – on which society depends – are produced in an environmentally sound manner without the unnecessary use of energy and unnecessary environmental impacts.

Careers

Vacancies are only published in Norwegian.