“About us there will be a new Terrafame.”
This is how the mining company Metals One is promoting its mining projects in Pohjois-Savo Rautavaara and Kainuu in Paltamo. The mineralizations explored by the company are located in the same black shale zone, which is mined by the Terrafame mine located between them. The final products would also be the same as Terrafamella: nickel, zinc, cobalt and copper.
The slogan is surprising. Terrafame and especially its predecessor, Talvivaara Sotkamo Oy, which went bankrupt in 2014, are remembered especially for their environmental problems and their considerable financial losses. In the last decade, in connection with new mining projects, it was almost always remembered to mention that “we are not Talvivaara”.
The Talvivaara mine ruined its nearby lake and its effects also extended to larger bodies of water. The 2012 sewage spill is remembered as one of the most significant environmental disasters in Finland in recent decades.
Winter danger made a loss of 1.3 billion euros during its operation. The state funded Talvivaara’s operations to continue the state company Terrafame, which was established in the initial phase, directly from the state budget with 490 million. This and Terrafame’s subsequent financing and loan arrangements together form a capitalization of more than one billion euros.
Except for a couple of profitable financial statements, Terrafame has made a loss throughout its operation. New financial arrangements and change negotiations concerning the entire staff are currently underway.
“Already during Talvivaara, I calculated that the mine needs more than one hundred million in external funding annually for its operation. The calculation has held up to these days,” sums up the mining manager of the Finnish Nature Conservation Union’s Kainuu district, who has followed the Talvivaara mine from the beginning Antti Lankinen.
When advertising for the investors themselves, Metals One of course does not refer to Terrafame’s losses, but to the fact that the mine located in Sotkamo is one of the world’s largest nickel producers. The importance of the end products of the mine has increased due to the battery boom created by the green transition.
“We are talking about critical minerals that we are trying to find on Europe’s own soil. We could produce battery metals closer to Europe’s own market, and the environmental impact would be smaller,” states Metals One’s responsible director Robert Mannstrom.
Metals One is a new company with no working mines. The company was founded in England in 2021 and was listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2023. Metals One also has ore exploration in Råna, Norway, but the projects in Finland are further along. Based on previous studies in the areas and the small-scale drilling program implemented last year, a nickel, zinc, copper and cobalt resource of 57 million tons has been mapped from Rautavaara and Paltamo.
“This is a cornerstone project for us,” summarizes Mannström.
Currently, a so-called PEA, i.e. a preliminary economic assessment, is underway, which is being carried out by the consulting company Wardell Armstrong International. “Based on that, we get an idea of whether the additional investments are profitable.”
In 2016, mine loaders transported black shale ore to the crushing plant at the Terrafame nickel and zinc mine in Sotkamo.
Mannström also knows the dark sides of Terrafame’s history.
“The mining industry has learned a lot about how things should not be done. You have to remember that technology has moved forward, and is constantly developing. The price of nickel will rise, and recovery will improve.”
In Talvivaara, the enrichment of metals from very poor mineralization is based on the large size of the deposit and the bioleaching method, where metals are enriched in large openings with the help of bacteria and chemicals. Terrafame is the only mining company that uses bioleaching in arctic conditions.
The enrichment method is a trade secret.
“Terrafame is not involved in the (Metals One) project you mentioned, and the company has nothing else to comment on,” acknowledges the director of sustainable development Brother Matti Hilla.
In Rautavaara and Paltamo, the mineralization is lower, and the metal concentrations are even lower than in Talvivaara.
“Of course, we look and learn from what Terrafame has done in recent years. But we are not locked into bioleaching, we are also investigating other enrichment possibilities,” says Mannström.
In Talvivaara, the actual mining was preceded by a “pilot pile” implemented in the terrain, where the bioleaching method was tested under real conditions. The process has since been developed throughout the mine’s operation.
“Our goal is to develop the enrichment method ourselves. We might use, for example, the Geological Survey’s Mintec test plant in Outokumpu, where experiments can be carried out on a large scale,” says Mannströn.
At risk the planned mine would be located almost in the center of the municipality’s downtown area. It is about a kilometer from the municipal hall to the planned quarry.
“The entire church village would be in the area of dust and noise problems,” he reminds Eerika Korhonen.
He and his family moved to Rautavaara at the beginning of the year in pursuit of silence and nature. Their family business does rehabilitation work with the help of nature and animals.
“The mining project is like a slap in the face.”
A larger-scale concern concerns the mine’s emissions. Black shale reacts strongly with water and air and forms acidic emissions. In the black shale zone, the side stone produced during mining is also black shale.
In Talvivaara, 15 years after the start of metal production, we are in a situation where water emissions are under control. Before that, twenty kilometers of wastewater discharge pipe had to be built into a larger water body.
“Environmental permits for mines do not specify who will clean up leachate after the end of mining,” Lankinen of the Finnish Nature Conservation Association reminds.
Leachate means water that flows through mining waste and out of the mining waste area or into groundwater.
“In our opinion, the load on the environment can be minimized,” says Robert Mannström, responsible director of Metals One.
He reminds us that a lot depends on the preliminary financial assessment that is underway. But if it gets the green light, Metals One is going to blow the whistle.
“2030 is perhaps such a goal that final planning is underway for opening the mine.”