The Industrial Revolution in Europe drove the next big explosion of interest in Svalbard. Land claims were being made with a view to future mining and mineral exploitation. Coal was the focus, but also phosphorite, gold, iron, zinc, lead, copper, gypsum, asbestos and marble.

Two Americans, John Munro Longyear and Frederick Ayer, formed the Arctic Coal Company in 1906 to develop mines in what is now Longyearbyen. (which is Longyear City in Norwegian) Money was invested, and labourers employed, mostly from Norway and Sweden. However, conditions were not good, and there was unrest.

In 1916 the Arctic Coal Company sold all of its properties to the Norwegian Spitsbergen Syndicate, which also purchased coalfields in Gronfjorden, ending up with the creation of Store Norske Spitsbergen Kulkompani AS (SNSK)

Longyearbyen became a ‘company town’. It was not until the 1960s when residents pushed for modernisation and normalisation, more in line with other Svalbard towns.