Mätäsvaara is a small

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

in the town of

Lieksa Lieksa () is a cities of Finland, town and municipalities of Finland, municipality of Finland. It is located in the North Karelia regions of Finland, region. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The ...

North Karelia North Karelia (or ''Northern Karelia'', ; ) is a region in eastern Finland. It borders the regions of Kainuu, North Savo, South Savo and South Karelia, as well as Russia's Republic of Karelia. It is the easternmost region of Finland and share ...

. It is located on the east side of the lake

Pielinen Pielinen () is the fourth largest lake of Finland, with a drainage basin area of equally distributed between eastern Finland and Russia. The creation of the lake and its outlet is attributed to a post-glacial isostatic rebound, which resulted in ...

and between the town of

Nurmes is a town and municipality of Finland, located in the county of North Karelia. The town has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . Neighbouring municipalities are Juuka, Kuhmo, Lieksa, Rautavaa ...

27 kilometres from the centre of Lieksa. The village was the site of significant

mining Mining is the Resource extraction, extraction of valuable geological materials and minerals from the surface of the Earth. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agriculture, agricultural processes, or feasib ...

activities in the 20th century. The mining focused on a

molybdenum Molybdenum is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Mo (from Neo-Latin ''molybdaenum'') and atomic number 42. The name derived from Ancient Greek ', meaning lead, since its ores were confused with lead ores. Molybdenum minerals hav ...

deposit, with mining beginning in 1903. The mining remained small-scale until

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. As molybdenum alloys could be used to create high-quality

steel Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon that demonstrates improved mechanical properties compared to the pure form of iron. Due to steel's high Young's modulus, elastic modulus, Yield (engineering), yield strength, Fracture, fracture strength a ...

, there was a great deal of demand for molybdenum to build weapons of war. In 1939 and 1940, the mine was built up, eventually becoming the second-largest in Finland. The Mätäsvaara mine supplied much of the molybdenum used by

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

for its wartime steel demands. At its peak, more than one thousand people lived in the village. The mine closed after the war, in 1947, and the village shrunk with it. As a result of its mining wealth, the village had impressive architecture for its size, much of it designed by the architect

Alvar Aalto Hugo Alvar Henrik Aalto (; 3 February 1898 – 11 May 1976) was a Finnish architect and designer. His work includes architecture, furniture, textiles and glassware, as well as sculptures and paintings. He never regarded himself as an artist, see ...

and containing relatively state-of-the-art features, such as central heating. However, much of the village has fallen into disrepair since the closure of the mine. , the village's population was below 50. In 2025, the Finnish government granted new exploratory mining permits to determine the viability of resuming mining in the area, possibly expanding beyond molybdenum to nickel, copper, and cobalt as well.

References

Villages in North Karelia Lieksa {{EasternFinland-geo-stub