Kittilä Mine
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Kittilä mine, also known as Suurikuusikko mine, is a
gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...
mine Mine, mines, miners or mining may refer to: Extraction or digging * Miner, a person engaged in mining or digging *Mining, extraction of mineral resources from the ground through a mine Grammar *Mine, a first-person English possessive pronoun ...
in
Kittilä Kittilä ( se, Gihttel, smn, Kittâl, sms, Kihttel) is a municipality of Finland and a popular holiday resort. It is located in northern Finland north of the Arctic Circle within the Lapland region. The municipality has a population of () and ...
, in the Lapland County of
Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...
. The
mine Mine, mines, miners or mining may refer to: Extraction or digging * Miner, a person engaged in mining or digging *Mining, extraction of mineral resources from the ground through a mine Grammar *Mine, a first-person English possessive pronoun ...
is owned and operated by Agnico-Eagle Mines Limited and is located north-east of
Kittilä Kittilä ( se, Gihttel, smn, Kittâl, sms, Kihttel) is a municipality of Finland and a popular holiday resort. It is located in northern Finland north of the Arctic Circle within the Lapland region. The municipality has a population of () and ...
. Exploration began in 1986, and production started in 2008. The mine is composed of two open pits, with the proceeds of the operation funding an
underground Underground most commonly refers to: * Subterranea (geography), the regions beneath the surface of the Earth Underground may also refer to: Places * The Underground (Boston), a music club in the Allston neighborhood of Boston * The Underground (S ...
mining operation, accessed by a ramp from surface and utilizing both transverse and longitudinal long-hole stoping methods. The mine utilizes on-site concentrating to produce
Doré bar DOR, Dor, or DoR may refer to: Computer games and characters * '' Advance Wars: Days of Ruin'', a turn-based tactics video game for the Nintendo DS * Dor, a magician in the fictional Xanth universe; see Magicians of Xanth * ''WWE Day of Reckoning ...
s for shipment off-site for refinement, and is scheduled to produce of gold in 2009.


History

In 1986 gold was discovered near the town of Kittilä. The
Geological Survey A geological survey is the systematic investigation of the geology beneath a given piece of ground for the purpose of creating a geological map or model. Geological surveying employs techniques from the traditional walk-over survey, studying outc ...
of Finland initiated exploration which resulted in a discovery of gold mineralization.
Diamond drilling Exploration diamond drilling is used in the mining industry to probe the contents of known ore deposits and potential sites. By withdrawing a small diameter core of rock from the orebody, geologists can analyze the core by chemical assay and cond ...
continued up to 1991, when exploration ended. In 1998 the property was sold to Svenska Platina AB, a junior mining company which was a
subsidiary A subsidiary, subsidiary company or daughter company is a company owned or controlled by another company, which is called the parent company or holding company. Two or more subsidiaries that either belong to the same parent company or having a s ...
of Riddarhyttan Resources AB. Permitting for an
open pit mine Open-pit mining, also known as open-cast or open-cut mining and in larger contexts mega-mining, is a surface mining technique of extracting rock or minerals from the earth from an open-air pit, sometimes known as a borrow. This form of mining ...
began in 2002, with a mining licence and permit secured in 2003. Agnico Eagle purchased a stake in Riddarhyttan (at the time
feasibility studies A feasibility study is an assessment of the practicality of a project or system. A feasibility study aims to objectively and rationally uncover the strengths and weaknesses of an existing business or proposed venture, opportunities and threats pr ...
suggested the resource was between 2—3.7 million ounces of gold) in 2004, with the remainder of the company being purchased in 2005. Diamond drilling continued in 2005, with an additional 460 holes drilled over . In September 2008 an additional of drilling resulted in a gold reserve increase of two million ounces (5.7 million ounces total), over 18.2 million tonnes of ore, grading 5.12 grams per tonne. Excavation of the open pit began in September 2007 and ore production began in May 2008. Mining in the Suuri pit began at per day to be increased to by the end of 2009. In 2020, the Kittilä mine produced record amounts of of gold and 1.84 million metric tons of ore.


Mining operation


Open pit

left, Caterpillar 777 The ore zone at the Kittilä mine (mined by what are known as the Suuri and Roura pits) is approximately long, wide, deep. Drilling is done using both
Sandvik Sandvik AB is a Swedish multinational engineering company specializing in metal cutting, digital and additive manufacturing, mining and construction, stainless and special steel alloys, and industrial heating. The company was founded in Sweden ...
and
Atlas Copco Atlas Copco (Copco from Compagnie Pneumatique Commerciale) is a Swedish multinational industrial company that was founded in 1873. It manufactures industrial tools and equipment. The Atlas Copco Group is a global industrial group of companies h ...
drill rigs, with
ore Ore is natural rock or sediment that contains one or more valuable minerals, typically containing metals, that can be mined, treated and sold at a profit.Encyclopædia Britannica. "Ore". Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Retrieved 7 April 2 ...
being loaded into Caterpillar 777 dump trucks (pictured) by
Caterpillar Caterpillars ( ) are the larval stage of members of the order Lepidoptera (the insect order comprising butterflies and moths). As with most common names, the application of the word is arbitrary, since the larvae of sawflies (suborder Sym ...
385 hydraulic excavators. Mining in the pits is expected to last for up to five years. Proceeds from the pits are being used to finance the underground mining operation. The pit produces of material per month, removing eight tons of waste per ton of ore. Provided they are able to acquire larger trucks, Agnico will increase their monthly tonnage to .


Underground

Underground development began in October 2006. Access tunnels are wide, which will permit the use of haul trucks up to 60-tonne capacity. Underground mining will be done using long-hole stoping methods, either along
strike Strike may refer to: People *Strike (surname) Physical confrontation or removal *Strike (attack), attack with an inanimate object or a part of the human body intended to cause harm *Airstrike, military strike by air forces on either a suspected ...
(longitudinal) in the case of narrow areas (less than ), and perpendicular (transverse) to the ore body in the case of wider zones. Levels are designed to be apart (from the floor to floor).


Processing

The
mill Mill may refer to: Science and technology * * Mill (grinding) * Milling (machining) * Millwork * Textile mill * Steel mill, a factory for the manufacture of steel * List of types of mill * Mill, the arithmetic unit of the Analytical Engine early ...
at the Kittila mine begins with a
crusher A crusher is a machine designed to reduce large rocks into smaller rocks, gravel, sand or rock dust. Crushers may be used to reduce the size, or change the form, of waste materials so they can be more easily disposed of or recycled, or to reduce ...
and semi-autogenous grinding mill (SAG Mill), where ore is sized to . The ore is then sent to flotation cells where the gold (located in
sulphide Sulfide (British English also sulphide) is an inorganic anion of sulfur with the chemical formula S2− or a compound containing one or more S2− ions. Solutions of sulfide salts are corrosive. ''Sulfide'' also refers to chemical compounds la ...
material) is separated from
gangue In mining, gangue () is the commercially worthless material that surrounds, or is closely mixed with, a wanted mineral in an ore deposit. It is thus distinct from overburden, which is the waste rock or materials overlying an ore or mineral body t ...
material. The concentrated ore is sent to an
autoclave An autoclave is a machine used to carry out industrial and scientific processes requiring elevated temperature and pressure in relation to ambient pressure and/or temperature. Autoclaves are used before surgical procedures to perform sterilizat ...
, and heated to 190, C at a pressure of . This heat and the addition of oxygen separates the gold from the sulphide material. The separated material is then leached out using
cyanide Cyanide is a naturally occurring, rapidly acting, toxic chemical that can exist in many different forms. In chemistry, a cyanide () is a chemical compound that contains a functional group. This group, known as the cyano group, consists of ...
. The carbon is removed from the leached material and the gold is
smelted Smelting is a process of applying heat to ore, to extract a base metal. It is a form of extractive metallurgy. It is used to extract many metals from their ores, including silver, iron Iron () is a chemical element with symbol Fe (from l ...
into
Doré bar DOR, Dor, or DoR may refer to: Computer games and characters * '' Advance Wars: Days of Ruin'', a turn-based tactics video game for the Nintendo DS * Dor, a magician in the fictional Xanth universe; see Magicians of Xanth * ''WWE Day of Reckoning ...
s, which are sent off-site for further refining. Kittila realizes an average gold recovery of 92%, and has the capacity to produce up to four bars per week. The Kittila mill also includes a
bomb shelter A bomb shelter is a structure designed to provide protection against the effects of a bomb. Types of shelter Different kinds of bomb shelters are configured to protect against different kinds of attack and strengths of hostile explosives. Air ...
, a legal requirement under a 1917 Finnish law which came into effect following Finnish independence from Russia. The shelter is open for viewing by visitors and contains emergency supplies such as oxygen tanks, food, drink and a set of golf clubs.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kittila mine Underground mines in Finland Surface mines in Finland Gold mines in Finland