Mineral Localities and Mining Districts in FINLAND

Pargas (Parainen), Åboland, Turku

Pargasite - Image Credit: Robert M. Lavinsky, CC BY-SA 3.0

Parainen lies in Finland’s Åbolland archipelago, about 18 kilometres south of Turku. The archipelago is often described as the largest in the world by number of islands, with around 50,000 in total. Some are inhabited, but most are little more than bare rock outcrops rising from the sea. These islands emerged gradually after the last Ice Age through falling sea levels and post-glacial rebound. They are made mainly of very hard Precambrian granites that have resisted erosion well and the reason why the archipelago continues to survive despite the constant pounding of the sea. In several places, these igneous rocks intruded into older calcium-rich marine sediments deposited around 1.9 billion years ago. Heat and pressure associated with these eruptions transformed those sediments into calcite-rich marble, which is folded, interlayered with mica gneiss, and in places altered into calc-silicate assemblages and skarn-like contact zones. At Parainen, these limestones and marbles have been quarried since at least medieval times, with industrial-scale operations across several sites from 1898 through to the present. The largest and most famous of these open-pit workings are the Limberg and the Skräbböle quarries. For collectors, Parainen is especially famous as the type locality of pargasite, described from here in the early nineteenth century. It is also the type locality for chondrodite, fluorcannilloite and potassic-pargasite. Other notable species from these complex contact zones include scapolite, diopside, spinel, topaz, garnet group, vesuvianite, zircon, tremolite, wollastonite, phlogopite, meionite, epidote and pyrite, making Parainen important both historically and mineralogically.

Kimitoön (Kemiönsaari, Kemiö, Kimito), Åboland, Turku

Gahnite from Rosendal - Image Credit: The Assay House, Public Domain

Kimitoön is a large island, also known as Kemiönsaari, Kemiö or Kimito, in the outer part of the southern Åboland archipelago, about 40 kilometers southeast from Turku. The locality lies within the same broad geological province as Parainen, consisting of granite intrusions into beds of ancient calcium-rich sediments now altered to limestones, marbles and schists by the heat and pressure of metamorphism. Several such contact zones lie scattered across Kimitoön and were also extensively quarried for marble, limestone and feldspar, mainly for industrial uses. The locations best known for marble were the Illo and Norrlammala quarries, while Pungböle was quarried for an attractive red-black granite, and Ala-Aulis and Vargberget were quarried for feldspar. The range of minerals from these include relatively common species such as anorthite var. labradorite, baryte, calcite, garnet group, microcline, vesuvianite, muscovite, quartz and occasional pyrite and marcasite. However, Kimitoön is also known for several complex pegmatites in the centre-west of the island which formed during the late stages of crystallisation of the granitic magma. The Skogsböle pegmatite is notable for its tantalum content, which occurs in species like tantalite and tapiolite, as well as being the type location for the mixed tantalum oxides of iron and manganese; Ixiolite-(Fe) and Ixiolite-(Mn) respectively. The Smörklinten pegmatite nearby is also a tantalum-bearing location, but this occurrence also contains the element yttrium. Minerals from here with yttrium include britholite-(Y) and ferrowodginite. The Lövböle pegmatite is another rich yttrium occurrence, notable for minerals such as allanite-(Y), britholite-(Y), formanite-(Y), gadolinite-(Y) and yttrialite-(Y). Finally, the Rosendal pegmatite is mineralogically the most diverse location, noted for approximately 40 species, including beryl, garnet group, chrysoberyl, cassiterite, epidote, euclase, gahnite, ilmenite, microcline, sekaninite, sillimanite, tantalite, sphalerite, zircon and topaz, as well as being the type location for ferronigerite-6N6S and ferrotaaffeite-6N'3S. It is speculated that Rosendal may in the future become a world leading source of tantalum, with estimated reserves of ore at 1.3 million tonnes.

Laurinkari, Turku

Scapolite - Image Credit: The Assay House, Public Domain

Laurinkari, is another location in the Åbolland archipelago, approximately 5 kilometres southwest from Turku. It is a small island on the Baltic coast known chiefly for mineral collecting rather than for any commercial extraction. Geologically, Laurinkari lies within the Precambrian bedrock of southern Finland, an ancient terrain dominated by granites, gneisses and carbonate-based metamorphic rocks. The mineral suite suggests a complex setting involving pegmatitic and metamorphic influence, with silicate minerals occurring alongside sulfides and accessory oxides. Recorded minerals include beryl, cordierite, feldspar, hornblende, pyroxene, quartz and titanite, together with pyrite, pyrrhotite, sphalerite, molybdenite and magnetite. Because Laurinkari was never one of Finland’s great mining centres, its historical importance is limited compared with places such as Pargas. Instead, its appeal lies in its varied mineral assemblage and its place among the older Scandinavian mineral collecting localities documented in field guides. For collectors, the most notable species are scapolite, scapolite var. wernerite and beryl, all of which formerly occurred as large, well-formed crystals up to 6 centimetres in length, together with attractive sulphides and associated silicates.

Somero pegmatites, Tamella

Beryl and Tourmaline - Image Credit: The Assay House, Public Domain

The Somero district in southwest Finland, between Turku and Hämeenlinna, is known for at least a dozen pegmatite occurrences, including Hirvikallio, Lehtisaari, Härkäsaari, Kirkkonummenkivi, Lauirinmäki, Luolamäki and Rajamäki. The entire area lies within the Häme volcanic belt, where ancient volcanic and sedimentary rocks were intruded by granitic magmas and later altered, creating a complex platform of schists, gabbros, diorites, granodiorites, microclines and amphibolites. These were later intruded by a second episode of igneous activity, creating even more complexity, and the pegmatite outcrops so common in the region today. An important feature many of these share, is the presence of similar rare elements, especially caesium and tantalum, and are therefore classed as lithium–caesium–tantalum pegmatites. Luolamäki is the best known, a petalite-subtype pegmatite rich in albite, K-feldspar, quartz and pollucite. Hirvikallio and Lehtisaari are also petalite-rich. Härkäsaari and Kirkkonummenkivi are notable for gigantolite, a mixture of muscovite and biotite replacing cordierite, while Lauirinmäki is known for blue beryl, samarskite and columbite. Mining in the district was limited, consisting mainly of small quarries and prospects, with quartz being the principal industrial product. Claims of native gold at places such as Satulinmäki and Riukka proved disappointing. Today, for collectors, Somero is notable for its pegmatite minerals such as beryl, bertrandite, cordierite, diopside, albite, ilmenite, spodumene, lepidolite, pollucite and tourmaline, together with columbite–tantalite minerals, cassiterite and samarskite-(Y). Luolamäki has recently become known for interesting rubidium-rich feldspars, including rubicline, adding to Somero’s reputation as one of Finland’s classic rare-element pegmatite districts.

Pyörönmaa pegmatite, Valkeakoski, Pirkanmaa

Lokkaite-(Y) - Image Credit: David Hospital, CC BY-SA 4.0

Pyörönmaa is a another classic rare-element pegmatite locality in southern Finland, near Valkeakoski in Pirkanmaa, a short distance west of Lake Vähä Leppäjärvi. Although not a major mining district, it is well known to mineral collectors and researchers because an old pegmatite quarry there produced an unusually rich suite of yttrium- and other rare-earth-bearing minerals. Geologically, Pyörönmaa is a granite pegmatite emplaced within a late-kinematic Svecofennian granite body. Its principal rock-forming minerals are potash feldspar, albite and quartz, but the pegmatite is especially notable for its concentration of REE minerals and late secondary alteration products. Exploration of the quarry has led to the identification of lokkaite-(Y), first described from Pyörönmaa as a supergene rare-earth carbonate associated with tengerite-(Y). Mining history appears to have been limited to quarrying local building stone rather than large-scale commercial extraction, but the locality achieved scientific importance through mineralogical work in the twentieth century. For collectors and mineralogists alike, Pyörönmaa is notable for gadolinite-(Y), fergusonite-(Y), yttrotantalite-(Y), xenotime-(Y), allanite-(Ce), zircon, bastnäsite-(Ce), bastnäsite-(Y), britholite-(Y), chernovite-(Y), synchysite-(Y), tengerite-(Y), thalénite-(Y), yttrialite-(Y) and rowlandite-(Y), as well as being the type locality for lokkaite-(Y), making it one of Finland’s important rare-earth pegmatite localities.

Viitaniemi pegmatite, Eräjärvi, Orivesi, Pirkanmaa

Viitaniemiite - Image Credit: The Assay House, Public Domain

Viitaniemi, in the Eräjärvi area of Orivesi, Pirkanmaa, is yet another of Finland’s best-known rare-element pegmatite localities. It lies inland in southern Finland and is famed among mineralogists as the type locality of both väyrynenite and viitaniemiite. Geologically, Viitaniemi is an LCT-type granitic pegmatite, meaning it is enriched in lithium, caesium and tantalum. More specifically, it is regarded as a complex pegmatite of the amblygonite subtype, with strong phosphate enrichment and a mineral assemblage dominated by quartz, feldspar and albite, together with lithium-, manganese-, iron- and beryllium-bearing phosphates. To date, more than 40 such phosphate species have been identified, among them both the type location minerals, as well as fluorapatite, eosphorite, frondelite, morinite, vivianite and triplite. Viitaniemi’s mining history was modest rather than industrially major, centred on quarrying and extraction of phosphates from a pegmatite body rather than on a large long-lived mine. Even so, the old quarry and its dumps became scientifically important because they yielded cassiterite, columbite-group minerals, tantalite-(Mn), wodginite and other Sn-Ta minerals studied in detail in recent years. For collectors, Viitaniemi is especially notable for topaz, beryl, cassiterite, tourmaline, amblygonite, purpurite, tantalite-group and phosphate-group minerals, making it one of Finland’s classic pegmatite localities.

Alavus–Peräseinäjoki pegmatites, South Ostrobothnia

Rubellite - Image Credit: The Assay House, Public Domain

The story of Finnish pegmatites continues with the Alavus–Peräseinäjoki district in South Ostrobothnia in western Finland, lying inland between the towns of Alavus and Seinäjoki. It is best known through localities such as Kaatiala and Hunnakko near Alavus and the Haapaluoma pegmatite quarry at Peräseinäjoki. Geologically, the district contains granitic pegmatites intruded into older metamorphic rocks during the late-stage magmatism. Most of these bodies are lithium-bearing and belong to the rare-element pegmatite group, with minerals formed in quartz-, feldspar- and albite-rich zones together with lithium silicates and accessory tantalum minerals. Studies of Haapaluoma specifically describe eucryptite, spodumene, beryl var. morganite, spessartine, elbaite, schorl, eucryptite, lepidolite and cookeite in post-magmatic fracture fillings and replacement bodies. Mining in the Alavus area was limited but significant locally. Haapaluoma was discovered in 1958 and worked as a feldspar quarry from 1961 to 1997. The pegmatite here is a zoned lithium pegmatite, consisting of two parallel dykes within granodioritic country rock. The main dyke is about 500 metres long and between 10 and 30 metres wide. Its principal minerals are microcline, albite, quartz and mica. For collectors, the wider district is especially noted for beryl, spodumene including kunzite, lepidolite, eucryptite and tantalum-bearing minerals, making it an important Finnish rare-element pegmatite locality. Haapaluoma is particularly notable for its tourmalines, among them rubellite and schorl, which occur in large individual crystals, and in attractive crystal groups.

Korsnäs Lead Mine, Korsnäs, Ostrobothnia

Korsnäs Mine - Image Credit: The Assay House, Public Domain

Korsnäs, in Ostrobothnia on Finland’s west coast about 40 km south of Vaasa, is one of the country’s most unusual localities and one of its rare mineral occurrences where metal ores are present. It is centred on the Korsnäs lead mine, now closed, but known for a mineral assemblage far more varied than its metal content suggests. Geologically, Korsnäs is exceptional because the ore occurs in a carbonate-rich setting linked with carbonatite and associated metamorphic rocks, including biotite and schist. Modern studies have noted the presence of REE-bearing minerals such as ancylite-(Ce), bastnäsite, monazite-group, britholite-group, allanite-group and pyrochlore-group mineral species, giving the deposit importance far beyond its lead content. Mining for the metal began in the 1960s, ending in 1972, giving the operation the distinction of being Finland’s only lead mine. Apart from lead, small amounts of copper and nickel were also extracted. In 1965 Korsnäs became especially famous among mineralogists after a cavity discovered underground yielded striking crystals of honey-yellow fluorapophyllite-(K), grey harmotome, yellow calcite, pyrite cubes and red apatite. For collectors, Korsnäs is especially noted for these species, as well as for tremolite, scapolite and its rare-earth minerals, making it one of Finland’s most distinctive closed mine localities. Today, the site is marked by the remains of its 58-meter mining tower and numerous information boards scattered around the site. Unfortunately, another legacy, though highly undesirable, is the ongoing leaching of heavy metals from the dumps into nearby waters, which may continue for decades if left without intervention.

Ylämaa spectrolite quarries, Ylämaa, Lappeenranta, South Karelia

Labradorite var. Spectrolite - Image Credit: Lech Darski, CC BY-SA 3.0

Ylämaa in South Karelia lies in southeastern Finland near the Russian border. It is one of the country’s best-known gemstone localities, famous above all for spectrolite, a vividly iridescent variety of labradorite found only in the Ylämaa area. Geologically, Ylämaa belongs to the great Wiborg rapakivi granite region of southeastern Finland. These granites formed about 1.4 billion years ago and are known for their distinctive coarse texture, with large, rounded alkali feldspar crystals set in quartz, plagioclase and dark minerals such as biotite and amphibole. In the Ylämaa quarries, spectrolite occurs in this granitic setting and is recovered as an ornamental and gem material rather than as a conventional ore mineral. According to some sources, the locality was discovered by a Finnish mineralogist who stumbled upon granite blocks hosting large labradorite crystals during the construction of fortifications in the Finnish-Russian war in the winter of 1939-1940. Spectrolite mining began in the 1950s and a gemstone workshop was established in 1973. For collectors and lapidarists, Ylämaa is prized for spectrolite itself, together with associated feldspar, quartz, biotite and occasional amphibole-rich rapakivi granite specimens.

Paukkajanvaara mine, Joensuu, North Karelia

Paukkajanvaara mine - Image Credit: The Assay House, Public Domain

Paukkajanvaara, in North Karelia, about 16 km northwest of Eno and 12 km west of Uimaharju, is a small but historically important uranium locality rather than a classic large mining district. Geologically, the deposit is unusual in Finland because the uranium mineralisation occurs in quartzites and conglomerates. The ore body belongs to the Koli–Kaltimo area and is associated with ancient sedimentary rocks that were later deformed and metamorphosed, producing a mineral assemblage that includes both primary uranium minerals and secondary weathering products. Mining history was brief but notable. Paukkajanvaara operated as a pilot uranium mine between 1958 and 1961, producing about 30 tons of uranium concentrate before the main ore body was exhausted and the site was later restored. For collectors, the locality is especially known for uraninite, coffinite, uranophane, meta-autunite and other unidentified uranium minerals, together with quartz, pyrite, chalcopyrite, hematite, titanite and occasional selenium-bearing species such as klockmannite.

Outokumpu, North Karelia

Uvarovite - Image Credit: Parent Géry, CC BY-SA 3.0

Outokumpu, in North Karelia east of central Finland, is one of the country’s most historically and economically important mining localities. The district became famous after a copper-rich boulder was found in 1908, leading mining engineer Otto Trüstedt to trace its source and identify the orebody in 1910. Copper mining began in 1913 and continued for almost 80 years, with the last mine in the camp, Keretti, closing in 1989 when the main ore reserves were exhausted. Other named mines in the area include Vuonos and Mokkivaara. Apart from copper, the deposit also produced smaller amounts of zinc, cobalt, nickel, silver and gold. The discovery was hugely significant for Finland, because it also led directly to the creation of the Outokumpu Oyj company that is one of the world’s leading producers of stainless and chrome steels. Geologically, the district is remarkable because its metal-bearing ores are closely associated with serpentinite and a distinctive assemblage of altered ultramafic and carbonate-rich rocks within the Outokumpu belt. The deposit is generally interpreted as part of an ancient oceanic crustal and hydrothermal system that was later deformed and metamorphosed during the Svecofennian orogeny, creating complex sulfide-rich bodies and unusual skarn- and serpentinite-related mineral assemblages. As it was the first such deposit discovered, it gave its name to the “Outokumpu type” ore deposits. For collectors, Outokumpu is notable not only for ore minerals such as chalcopyrite, pyrrhotite, pyrite and sphalerite, but also for striking gangue and metamorphic minerals. Dark green uvarovite garnet is especially famous from the district, alongside diopside, tremolite, quartz, calcite and magnetite, giving Outokumpu both scientific and collector importance. Outokumpu is also the type location for cobaltpentlandite, a rare cobalt sulfide, sometimes containing traces of nickel and/or iron.

Paakkila mine, Tuusniemi, North Savo

Vermiculite - Image Credit: Leon Hupperichs, CC BY-SA 3.0

The Paakkila mine, in Tuusniemi, North Savo, eastern Finland, lies about 70 km east-southeast of Kuopio and roughly 25 km west-northwest of Outokumpu. It was not a metal mine but one of Europe’s best-known anthophyllite asbestos localities, worked as both a quarry and processing site. Geologically, the deposit is linked to serpentinite intrusions of the Karelian orogeny emplaced into mica gneiss and granite. The asbestos bodies occur as zoned lenses, passing inward from host gneiss through mica-rich and tremolite–actinolite zones into talc, anthophyllite asbestos, and locally a serpentine-asbestos core. This metamorphosed ultramafic setting explains the abundance of magnesium-rich silicates found at the mine. Paakkila’s industrial history began with trial working by a Danish company in 1907–1910, followed by full-scale production from 1918 until 1975. During the 1950s and 1960s annual output was about 10,000 tons, and the site also had Finland’s only asbestos concentration plant. When the demand for asbestos declined sharply due to its health dangers production eventually ceased. For collectors, Paakkila is chiefly known for striking rosettes of anthophyllite, as well as tremolite, actinolite, talc, serpentine and vermiculite specimens. The location is also notable for the occurrence of native carbon as graphite.

Iivaara Intrusion (Ijola), Kuusamo, North Ostrobothnia

Schorlomite - Image Credit: The Assay House, Public Domain

Iivaara, in Kuusamo in northeastern Finland, is one of the country’s remarkable alkaline rock localities. The massif lies in North Ostrobothnia and is famous in petrology as the type area for ijolite, a rare nepheline–pyroxene rock named from Iivaara itself. Sources describe the locality as an alkaline complex with ijolites grading into fenitic syenites. Geologically, Iivaara is part of the westernmost fringe of the Kola alkaline province across the border in Russia. Studies describe a suite ranging from urtite to melteigite, surrounded by fenitized country rock altered by alkaline fluids. This unusual magmatic setting gives the locality its scientific importance and explains its enrichment in titanium, high-field-strength elements, and rare-earth-bearing accessory minerals. Iivaara does not have the mining history of Finland’s major ore camps. Instead, its significance is mainly geological and exploratory rather than industrial, with research focused on its alkaline petrology and possible rare-earth potential rather than sustained mine production. For collectors, notable minerals include nepheline, aegirine-augite, pectolite, titanite, zircon, pectolite, orthoclase, epidote, feldspar-group, apatite and black schorlomite, the last originally described here as ‘iivaarite’.

Ivalo-Inari goldfield, Lapland

Map of Gold Rush area by the Ivalojoki River - Image Credit: Public Domain

The Ivalo–Inari goldfield lies in Finnish Lapland around the River Ivalojoki and its tributaries, north of Saariselkä and south of Lake Inari. This is where the history of Lapland gold began - the first important discoveries were made on the Ivalojoki in 1868, and state-controlled gold panning started in 1870. The rush was short-lived, but it left a lasting mark on the region, with places such as Kultala and Ritakoski becoming part of Finland’s gold-mining story. Small-scale panning continues today. Geologically, the gold occurs mainly as placer deposits rather than in one great hard-rock mine. The Ivalojoki flows through an ancient preglacial valley cut into roughly 1.9 billion-year-old Precambrian granulite-belt rocks. During glaciation, gold was eroded from bedrock into till, then concentrated by meltwater and river action into gravels, terraces and channel deposits along the Ivalojoki and streams such as Sotajoki and Palsinoja. For collectors, the chief attraction is native gold, especially flattened grains and rounded nuggets, but heavy-mineral concentrates from the district have also yielded platinum-group minerals, including native platinum and gold alloys, adding extra mineralogical interest to this classic Lapland placer field.