The Vereinigte Sälzer & Neuack colliery in Essen was adjacent to the Krupp cast steel factory and supplied coal to the company in the early period.
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The purchase of iron ore mines in the Lahn region triggers the start of the company's expansion into a vertically structured group.
Alfred Krupp wishes to avoid being dependent on external suppliers for his increasing raw materials requirements. In 1865 he acquires the Sayner iron and steel mill near Koblenz from the Prussian treasury, followed over the next few years by other iron and steel mills on the Rhine along with numerous ore mines on the Lahn and in the Westerwald region. To cover coal requirements he leases the Graf Beust colliery in Essen from 1864 - 1884 and buys the Hannover colliery near Bochum in 1872. By buying a share in the Spanish company Orconera Iron Ore Co. he at the same time gains access to low-phosphorus ores which are suitable for the Bessemer process. This means that Krupp is not forced to adopt the new Thomas process for smelting phosphorus-bearing ores, as many other iron and steel mills in the Ruhr area do. To transport the Spanish ore he establishes his own shipping company in Rotterdam in 1873.
