The water problems are history at Terrafame in Sotkamo, as well as noise and dust disturbances. Now the Finland's biggest and most expensive mine is focusing on profitability. Test operations on the dumping and possible utilization of waste rock have begun 15.8.2017
Terrafame started also to research the behaviour of waste rock during dumping. The aim of the research is to collect data for the planning and inspection of base structures in waste rock areas and to investigate the possibilities of financially utilising the small quantities of metals in waste rock.
A 10 x 10 metre test field has been built in the company’s mining site for the test operations. Water accumulating in the test area will be collected for processing or utilization in the production process. Overall, the environmental impacts of the test operations will be minor.
Terrafame holds a test operations permit issued by the Regional State Administrative Agency for Northern Finland in July 2017 for the research, and the test operations are based on laboratory-scale tests initiated in 2016. The meticulous utilization of even small amounts of metals in waste rock would increase the efficiency of the use of natural resources.
