Exploring FOR ORE
HIRE is the flagship of projects on the research of ore potential areas in Finland.
About fifteen Finnish ore provinces and mine camps have been surveyed in exceptional detail using seismic
reflection sounding. The HIRE project (High Resolution Reflection Seismics for Ore Exploration 2007-2010), part of the measurement and modelling research programme of the GTK, is producing new structural data on Finland’s ore potential areas while at the same time harnessing new technology and geophysical
methods to find difficult-to-locate and economically
interesting ore deposits.
The leader of the project, Research Professor Ilmo Kukkonen of the GTK, says that the data aquisition, which started in September 2007 and lasted for a year, has produced a large amount of new information on operational, prospected and abandoned ore producing areas in central, northern and eastern Finland.
In connection with this, the reflection seismic method has been applied in the area of Eurajoki in Western Finland, and completely new structural data on the bedrock of final disposal site for nuclear waste in Olkiluoto was obtained.
Cooperation and some
luck was needed
Mining companies operating in Finland were informed
in advance of the opportunity to participate in the project, and about ten active companies are participating as partners. As the field work is now finished, the material is currently in the processing and interpretation phase; it is being processed by the GTK. The Institute of Seismology of the University of Helsinki is participating in the project as a seismic data processing specialist. The research material is owned by the GTK and it will eventually be published for general use.
About half of the costs of the HIRE project have been paid through a dept conversion agreement on the national debt of the former Soviet Union. The Russian contractor Vniigeofizika & Machinoimport brought the necessary field personnel and equipment to Finland. Preliminary data processing was already carried out in field bases. The GTK served as contact for the contractor in Finnish society, arranged the measurement
permits, handled quality control, traffic management
and blasting work. The GTK has extensive previous experience with debt conversion projects, and and finally carried out three large projects with a total value of about 24 million euros using this form of financing.
It was convenient that the HIRE project was carried
out during the upswing in the economic cycle. Strong demand is expected for the project’s research data as mineral exploration will continue to intensify in Finland after the current economic downturn. Finland’s
bedrock still contains numerous undiscovered ore deposits and the HIRE project can open completely
new perspectives on eploring them.
 Open pdf
TEXT Susanna Heikkinen
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