Audiotur Outokumpu Mining Museum

Some of you may already be familiar with the name Outokumpu, though most may never have heard of it. The story of both the town of Outokumpu and Outokumpu Company started in 1910 in the rural municipality of Kuusjärvi, where a sizable copper ore deposit was discovered. Today, the mining has ended and today the well-preserved mining environment is open to visitors. In addition to the industrial complex - the tower, the concentration plant and the workshops - one can see mining machines, visit the museum tunnel and ride a mining train in The Old Mine area. The location also offers a theme entertainment park for children. All in all, one has to visit Outokumpu at least once in a lifetime!

Outokumpu is the birth place of modern mining in Finland. In 1935 Outokumpu Company built the biggest copper-smelting plant in the world and at the end of the 1940's the company’s engineers invented a flash smelting method that turned out to be so efficient for the extraction of metal from ore that it ensured the growth and development of the company for a long time.

Outokumpu Company has since become a global leader in stainless steel production. Today Outokumpu Co.’s only working mine in Finland is located in Kemi, Lapland. There the company mines chrome used for improving physical and chemical properties of steel. Outokumpu has representative offices in 30 countries, a wide range of products, modern industrial facilities, its own chrome mine and over 100 years of experience working with metals and advanced materials.

Authors – Satu Savolainen and Kirill Shekov. English translation – Shekova Nina, Satu Savolainen and Niko Immonen. This GPS guide is elaborated within the frameworks of Mining Road Project. The project is financed by the European Union, the Russian Federation and the Republic of Finland.