Nickel in Finland

Nickel in Finland Click on the geological map of Finland and continue to the deposits you wish to investigate in the FINNICKEL Database

Hälvälä massive ore Enlarge

Vaara disseminated ore Enlarge

  FINNICKEL Database

Finland has a long history in nickel mining, beginning in 1941 at Makola and continuing at present at Hitura. Around 50 Mt of nickel ore, containing 0.3 Mt of Ni, has so far been mined.

As a by-product, nickel also comes from the talc mines in eastern Finland (so far 0.02 Mt Ni produced). A nickel refinery has been in production at Harjavalta since 1960 and nickel chemicals have been produced at Kokkola since 1993.

The Palaeoproterozoic orogenic deposits (Svecofennian, 1.9 Ga) have been the most rewarding exploration targets. Ten such deposits have been exploited for a total production of 43 Mt of ore at average grades of 0.7 % Ni and 0.3 % Cu. The total pre-mining resource of all the deposits known to date is about 60 Mt at 0.7 % Ni. At present, mining continues at Hitura, where production so far is 15 Mt at 0.60 % Ni and 0.22 % Cu. The ore resources at Hitura are still 5 Mt at 0.7 % Ni and 0.2 % Cu. The largest closed mine is Kotalahti with a production of 12.4 Mt at 0.66 % Ni and 0.26 % Cu.

The Kotalahti and Vammala Nickel Belts in central and southern Finland host several dozens of potential deposits, in some of which the average grade can be up to 2 % Ni. The deposits are hosted by mafic-ultramafic intrusions within migmatitic mica gneiss or in the contact zone of Archaean and Proterozoic rocks.

The Archaean komatiites (ca 2.8 Ga) in eastern and northern Finland and the Palaeoproterozoic komatiites (ca 2.05 Ga) in northern Finland provide a high potential for new discoveries. They have been explored for nickel since the 1960s but more actively only since 1990s. The largest deposit discovered is Ruossakero in northwestern Lapland with resources of 4.2 Mt at 0.52 % Ni. Numerous smaller deposits in komatiites and komatiitic basalts have been discovered in the Archaean greenstone belts of Kuhmo and Suomussalmi in eastern Finland. Low-grade disseminated occurrences have been found in the 2.05 Ga Pulju greenstone belt and growing interest is also shown for other belts of the same age (e.g. Sattasvaara). Also the komatiite-coeval, intrusion-hosted Keivitsa deposit contains a significant metal reserve (up to 432 Mt at 0.29 % Ni, 0.45 % Cu and 0.4 ppm PGM+Au). The possibility to find Pechenga-type deposits in northern Finland should also be kept in mind.

The 2.44 Ga layered intrusions typically contain Ni-Cu deposits where the PGMs are economically significant metals. These deposits represent newly defined class of 'contact style' Ni-Cu-PGE mineralization, which are found close to the basal contacts of the layered intrusions. The Ahmavaara deposit in the marginal series of the Suhanko Intrusion (Portimo Layered Igneous Complex) contains 1.8 Mt of ore at 0.90 % Ni, 0.80 % Cu, 5.04 ppm Pd, 0.69 ppm Pt and 0.19 ppm Au.

Other nickel deposit types in Finland include

1) Low-grade black schist-hosted deposits (2.07–1.9 Ga); of these, the Talvivaara deposit is the largest, 339 Mt at 0.27 % Ni, 0.14 % Cu, 0.02 % Co, 0.56 % Zn. Bioshale Project
2) The deposits hosted by Outokumpu-type ophiolites (1.97–1.95 Ga) and Outokumpu-type quartz and calc-silicate rocks (1.9 Ga); their average nickel grade is usually <0.5 %.
3) Younger (ca 1.65 Ga) deposits include those hosted by dolerites, of which the Petolahti deposit was mined in early 1970s (0.09 Mt at 0.65 % Ni and 0.70 % Cu).

See also: FINNICKEL Database Nickel mines and selected nickel deposits in Finland GeoNickel Active Map Explorer Bioshale Project Location file of nickel deposits

Last updated: April 09, 2009