News
An environmental and water management permit was granted for the Suhanko mine on 19 June 2025
The Regional State Administrative Agency for Northern Finland has granted Suhanko Arctic Platinum Oy an environmental and water management permit. The granted environmental permit allows for, among other things, the extraction of ore from the Konttijärvi and Ahmavaara open-pits, ore enrichment, the disposal of mining waste in waste areas and the discharge of treated waters into the Kemijoki River. In Suhanko, the intention is to mine and concentrate ore containing palladium, platinum, copper, nickel, gold, rhodium and cobalt.
Finnish Safety and Chemicals Agency (Tukes) granted on 30 December 2024 an auxiliary area for the Suhanko mining concession, needed for the construction of a discharge pipeline.
Suhanko public briefing event in Ranua on 26 November 2024
The event provided up-to-date information on the Suhanko mining project.
Suhanko mine access road completed in October 2024
The project involved the construction of a new 10-kilometre mine access road from main road no. 78 to the Suhanko mining area to serve local transport needs. Of the new road connection, 8.5 kilometres is classified as a public road. The project also included the construction of a new bridge over the Ylijoki River, replacing the old wooden bridge, which was dismantled. Additionally, a small bridge was built at Tuumasuo to ensure safe passage for moor frogs underneath the road.
The Suhanko mine access road was implemented using a post-financing model, in which the mining company has covered all construction costs. The Finnish Transport Infrastructure Agency will reimburse the state’s share to the mining company after mining operations commence.
Suhanko public briefing event in Tervola on 5 June 2024
The event provided up-to-date information on the Suhanko mining project, with a particular focus on the associated discharge pipeline.
Suhanko’s Environmental and Water Management Permit application was issued for public hearing on 8 December 2023
The Regional State Administrative Agency announced on 8 December 2023 that the application for the Environmental and Water Management Permit for the Suhanko Mine and concentration plant has been issued for public hearing. The application documents and the public notice of the application are available on the website of the Regional State Administrative Agencies during the period 8 December 2023 – 29 January 2024 at https://ylupa.avi.fi/fi-FI/asia/2459445. During the public hearing period, comments and opinions can be submitted to the Regional State Administrative Agency for Northern Finland. Instructions on how to provide comments and opinions can be found in the application notification.
An invitation to tender for the construction of the mine access road was initiated on 19 April 2023
A permitted road connection to the Suhanko mining area is to be built from the main road of Rovaniemi–Ranua. The distance covered by the new road is approximately 10 kilometres, of which the main road section covers approximately 8.5 kilometres to the concession boundary and the private road within the mining concession covers 1.5 kilometres. The Finnish Transport Infrastructure Agency will build the road and Suhanko Arctic Platinum Oy will bear the costs, with half of the public road section costs to be reimbursed by the state once the mining operations commence in Suhanko. The aim is that the construction of the mine access road would begin in June 2023 and that the road would be completed in autumn 2024.
Public briefing in Tervola 21 March 2023
Public briefing in Ranua 22 March 2023
The EIA process for the Suhanko discharge pipeline has been completed
The Environmental Impact Assessment process (EIA) for the discharge pipeline of the Suhanko mine has been completed. ELY Centre’s reasoned conclusion on the EIA report was published on 15 December 2022. In the summary section ELY Centre concludes: “In the view of the competent authority, the results obtained during the assessment procedure show that the project has a such minor environmental impact, that there is no obstacle to its implementation. The competent authority notes that alternative VE4 is the worst alternative with respect to changes in water quality and other impacts resulting from it. The competent authority considers that the impacts of alternatives VE5 or VE6 are less than the impacts of other alternatives because if implemented, the Ossauskoski basin and the housing located in its surroundings and their domestic water wells, groundwater areas and water abstraction facilities, and the fish farm in Ossauskoski will not be affected at all by any potential impacts.”
Traficom ratified the Suhanko mine access road plan on 7 November 2022
Traficom’s decision was displayed for public inspection on 9 November – 16 December and is now legally valid. The mine access road is fully permitted for construction.
For more information, please contact Erkki Kantola, Environmental Manager, tel. +358 400 892 001.
More information is available in Finnish underneath: