Week of October 5 - 12, 2003


Wow! Hadn't realized how long it has been since my last update.

Well, so many things have happened it is hard to keep track of. First, there was our excursion to Lapland. We went the first week of October and visited a couple of mines, and some equipment manufacturers. We visited the Kemi Mine, the Hitura Mine, the Tornia Steel Works, and the equipment manufacturer Normac.

At Kemi we stayed at a little motel that had the tiniest rooms I have ever seen three guys share. But we survived, and the rooms were free, so no worries. The Kemi mine has been operating as an open pit for about 20 years, and they just recently (Sept 2003) started underground operations. It is a very,very clean mine, but I don't think it will stay that way for long.They are mining ferrochromium, which they then sell to steel producers, or ship to the Tornia Steel Works, which is owned by the same parent company. The ferrochrome is used in the production of stainless steel. The deposit is actually the only one in Finland, and is responsible for about 3% of the world supply. There is about 10% of ferrochrome in Kazakhstan, and the rest is from South Africa. We got to go on an underground tour, and went down to the 500 level (500 m below surface). No big deal though, cause it is kinda hard to tell the difference between 5 m underground and 500 m.

Tornia was just down the road, so we visited them next. If you have never seen a steel plant before, it is pretty cool, but once you have seen one, they quickly lose there appeal. It was fun though, and it is always cool to see the hot steel flying along the rollers as it is getting pressed.

After visiting the above two places for a couple of days, it was time for a change of scenery and we drove a couple of hours back towards Helsinki and visited the equipment manufacturer Normac. They had an interesting presentation, and a heck of a good buffet. The Canadian and Dutch even teamed up and won a bottle of decent champagne. After the wonderful party hosted by Normac, we got back on the bus and drove to the place where we were staying the night. It was in a campground area, the kind of place were you can rent a cabin or bring a tent and just hang out. It was pretty cool, and we had lots of fun. There was even a sauna in each cabin. We had so much fun, my Helsinki roomy Pierre broke his leg. Which kinda ended his evening, but he is doing alright now, and gets the cast off at Christmas.

The next day we got up early and drove to the Hitura mine. Unlike the Kemi mine, Hitura is nearing the end of its life. It has been underground for about 30 years, and they do not have that much ore left. They are mining mainly nickel, and it is in very weak rock. They are using a lot of rock support. Hitura was cool because it was a real mine. They didn't have any fancy presentation rooms etc, it was just a canteen and the mine, and the mill.

Well, that is pretty much all about my trip to Lapland. Sorry for the delay in posting, I will definitely try to keep more on top of things. I have too anyway, or else Stephanie will fly over here and beat me up.

Until next time, always enjoy French's Mustard when you can, 'cause in some places it just doesn't exist.

Craig

Posted: Fri - October 10, 2003 at 10:23      

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