Arctic Coal Company - John Munro Longyear, an American, visited Spitsbergen as a tourist with his family in the summer of 1901. He observed coal exploration in Bellsund and spent some time ashore in Adventfjord where he saw outcrops of coal. His interest piqued, he made a second trip and obtained coal samples that proved to be of high quality. Longyear and an associate, Frederick Ayer of Boston, purchased the tracts from Trondhjem-Spitsbergen Kulkompagni on January 1, 1905 for 50,000 Kroner in fully paid shares and 10,000 Kroner cash. Development started in 1905 and the first company building was constructed in 1906 by Wm. D. Munroe, who found and acquired additional promising tracts at Sassenfjord and Kapp Boheman.

Arctic Coal Company was incorporated in Boston on February 6, 1906. The following areas were claimed by the company.

The Arctic Coal Co. proved commercial coal production on Svalbard was feasible and profitable. However, the lack of sovereignty created problems of claim jumping and land disputes. For example, on Rusanovodden (odden = point), Coles Bay Point, in 1913 they found a new Russian building of heavy plank, Russian flag on pole, two men planning to stay the winter and 300 ft. from the house an Arctic Coal Co. claim post, put there in 1905, broken and burned.

Also, a number of individuals and companies were contesting their claims on the east shore of Grønfjord. In addition, trappers and prospectors would become caught by ice on Svalbard, experience an accident or run out of supplies, then sought shelter, help and supplies from the company. These became a constant problem and burden to the company because they were seldom repaid and were unable to obtain legal settlements. In addition, world tensions were leading to war and there were uncertainties in the economy. Because of these factors Ayer & Longyear decided to sell their Spitsbergen business.
     

The company shut down in the autumn of 1915. During the American period 160,000 metric tons of coal were produced and shipped to Norway. The Russian-Siberian Company was very interested in purchasing the Arctic Coal Company along with other Russian, German, Norwegian, and Swedish companies. F. Hiorth, C. Anker, and others were encouraging Norwegian interests to purchase the American company. It resulted in the government sending Adolf Hoel and Svalheim, geologists and mining experts to Isfjord to investigate. Their favorable report of September 1915 led to the Norwegian government exerting pressure on the Central Bank, whose president, Kjelland-Torkildsen, signed an offer in March of 1916 that resulted in the purchase of the Arctic Coal Company.

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