Fig. 1. Picture on the public event held in Ruka, Kuusamo, by the UNDERCOVER Project (Photo by Kristina Karvonen, GTK).
Toni Eerola, Mineral Intelligence Group. Mineral Economic Solutions Unit, Geological Survey of Finland (GTK)
On Thursday, 24 April 2025, a meeting with local community was arranged by the UNDERCOVER project in Ruka, Kuusamo, northeastern Finland (Fig. 1). The objective of the meeting was to kick-start the project's activities in the region and to disseminate the details about its forthcoming field work. This served as means to raise public awareness on the importance of the Kuusamo region as a case study area of the project.
UNDERCOVER is a Horizon Europe research project, funded by the European Union, focused on development and testing of geophysical methods in mineral exploration. Led by the Geological Survey of Finland (GTK), it brings together 15 partners from 6 countries (Finland, France, Germany, Namibia, Portugal, and Czech Republic). The project includes three case study areas - Kuusamo in Finland, Lagoa Salgada in Portugal, and Kalahari in Namibia - and aims to investigate the deep structures of mineral potential schists belts and identify evidence of deep-seated mineral deposits by using and testing several geophysical methods. The project also aims to study the social license to operate (SLO) in case study areas, specifically how communities perceive and accept mineral exploration activities and geophysical surveys. This work is supported by stakeholder engagement, communication activities, and efforts to raise public awareness about geophysical and other geoscientific methods, and the importance of critical raw materials (CRM). In this article, we describe a project’s public event held recently in Kuusamo, Finland and a visit to the municipality administration.
Kuusamo is located in northeastern Finland, near the Russian border (Fig. 2). Geologically, the region is formed by the Paleoproterozoic Kuusamo schist belt, a very prospective area especially for gold, and cobalt (Fig. 2). The region has been a subject of intense mineral exploration, and several mineral deposits have been found. The most important of them is the Juomasuo gold-cobalt deposit, which several project holders have attempted to develop into a mine since 2007 (Fig. 2). The region has a long history of numerous natural resource disputes, and mineral exploration and mining are no exceptions. Uranium exploration was opposed in the region between 2006-2008 and the Juomasuo mine project has also faced opposition because of its associated uranium.
Fig. 2. Schematic geological map of the Kuusamo region with its mineral deposits (Geological Survey of Finland 2020).
The region is also a well-known nature-based tourism destination with a lot of second homes along its rivers and lake shores. It also hosts the Ruka ski and recreation resort and Oulanka National Park (Fig. 3). Kuusamo is the first place in Finland where tourism has been alleged to be harmed by mining and mineral exploration, though no actual harm has occurred. Because of resistance towards mining and mineral exploration shown by tourism entrepreneurs and second homeowners, it has been called as the oldest representative of the ‘not in my leisure area’ (NIMLA) phenomenon in Finland (Eerola 2022). Kuusamo municipality has also opposed mining and mineral exploration, attempting to exclude mining from land use planning within its territory. This effort was overturned by the Administrative Court of Northern Finland. However, according to the new mining act which entered into force in 2023, this is now possible.
Fig. 3. Geological Map of the Kuusamo region, showing the Juomasuo gold-cobalt mine project areas, Ruka resort and Oulanka National Park.
Having all this in mind, Kuusamo is a good example of social and political geology (Mata-Perello et al. 2012, Jebrak 2017, Stewart and Gill 2017, Bobbette and Donovan 2019): diverse products of geosystem services (mineral deposits, Ruka quartzite hill and the Oulanka National Park resting on a greenstone belt, Fig. 3) assume a role of “political actors with agency”. They “communicate” and “interact” through the competing human interests of mineral raw materials extraction, nature conservation and tourism, collectively shaping the land use and natural resources controversies in the region.
For the above-mentioned reasons, and because the region is a well-known host of mineral deposits, it provided an appropriate setting to test and develop geophysical methods for locating geological structures, identifying potential deep-seated mineral deposits, and investigating local attitudes towards such activities and their social acceptance.
As a part of the project’s stakeholder engagement and communication, on 24 April, GTK arranged an open event for the local community at the conference center of Hotel Scandic Rukahovi in Ruka, located ca. 20 km from downtown Kuusamo. Ruka resort is located on a prominent quartzite hill with a nice view of the local landscape.
Participation in the event was possible both in person and online. Twelve people attended the project presentations on site, while another twelve joined online. The event was advertised through GTK’s press release, in the local newspaper and letters sent to landowners with planned geophysical measurement sites on their property.
While Dr. Mari Kivinen gave technical assistance and coordinated online participation, the event was opened by Mrs. Kristina Karvonen, GTK’s communication officer for the project. She introduced the speakers, Mr. Toni Eerola and Ms. Tuija Luhta. Toni Eerola gave an introduction for the project explaining its motivation and the importance of the Kuusamo region as a project case study area(Fig. 1). He was followed by the deputy project leader Tuija Luhta, who presented the geophysical methods to be used in research and their area of application. Company representatives of the Latitude 66 Cobalt, a partner in the UNDERCOVER project, and who conduct the bulk of exploration activities in the Kuusamo area, were among the public.
The presentations were followed by a vivid yet warmly spirited discussion. Most of the participants were landowners and second homeowners. Despite some critical voices concerning mineral exploration and geophysical survey, most of the questions and comments were of a practical nature. Participants wanted to know about the impacts of the research, possible restrictions caused by it and dissemination of its results.
The GTK’s team was satisfied with the event and its outcomes, which was celebrated in a joint dinner under a beautiful Arctic late evening sunset. The following day, a lunch meeting was held at the Kuusamo municipality house, where we were received by the mayor and the technical director. Although the meeting was quite pleasant, the municipality representatives expressed their concerns about possible discord the project might cause in the region. To address this, the project communication needs to pay attention to those concerns and fieldwork should be preceded by door-to-door stakeholder engagement and information sharing. Actions and event described do mark the first step toward building a dialogue regarding UNDERCOVER activities. There has been earlier work done in the area to build dialogue by Latitude 66 Cobalt since 2018.
References
Bobbette, A. & Donovan, A. 2019. Political Geology. Active Stratigraphies and the Making of Life. Palgrave MacMillan, Cham.
Eerola, T. 2022. Territories of contention: The importance of project location in mining-related disputes in Finland from the geosystem services perspective. Resources, 11, 109. https://doi.org/10.3390/resources11120109
Geological Survey of Finland 2020. Juomasuo, Paleoproterozoic Kuusamo Belt. Mineral Systems of Finland. https://minsysfin.gtk.fi/index.php/juomasuo-paleoproterozoic-kuusamo-belt/
Mata-Perelló, J.M., Mata-Lleonart, R., Vintró-Sánchez, C., & Restrepo-Martínez, C., 2012. Social geology: a new perspective on geology. Dyna 79, 158–166.
Erb, M., Mucek, A.E., and Robinson, K. 2021. Exploring a social geology approach in eastern Indonesia: What are mining territories? The Extractive Industries and Society 8, 89–103. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.exis.2020.09.005
Stewart I.S., & Gill G.C. 2017. Social geology — integrating sustainability concepts into Earth sciences. Proc Geol Assoc 128: 165–172.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pgeola.2017.01.002