Talvivaara Mine

The Talvivaara mine is located in Sotkamo in Eastern Finland. The deposit is one of the largest known nickel sulphide deposits in Europe. The mining licenses in this area were originally granted to Outokumpu in 1986 and exploration rights to them were subsequently transferred to Talvivaara in February 2004.

The resources are well suited for open-pit mining, partly due to the thin overburden.  On average, the thickness of overburden is estimated at 2 metres. Furthermore, the average waste to ore ratio is close to 1/1, which enables cost-effective exploitation of the resource.