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About Mons Andreas Petersen
- Mons Andreas Petersen, best known as Mons Petter (sometimes Mons Peter; April 6 1829 – November 16, 1886), was a Norwegian Sami farmer that discovered ore deposits in Sulitjelma in 1858.Mons Petter was a Sami farmer from the Skognes farm in Lakså along the shore of Øvervatnet (English: Upper Lake) in what is now the municipality of Fauske—at that time the hundred of Skjerstad.
- In the summers he used to haul timber out from the pine forests of the area around Langvatnet (English: Long Lake) about 32 kilometers (20 mi) to the southeast.
- He had noticed veins of rust in the mountains.
- In 1858, he found ore there that he thought was gold.
- He took his find to the merchant Bernhard Koch in Venset, who determined that it was not gold based on its weight.
- In fact, he had found chalcopyrite (a golden yellow copper ore) and pyrite (fool's gold).The discovery led to the establishment of Sulitjelma Mines (Norwegian: Sulitjelma gruber), which began operations in 1891. The Mons Petter Festival is held annually in Sulitjelma in late June to celebrate the area's mining history.
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