Uvarovite with Diopside

specimen number:
2133391

location:
Outokumpu, North Karelia, Finland

description:
A crystalline diopside matrix hosting a deep green partial crystals of uvarovite almost 1.0 cm in size. Some contacting present as seen.

The Outokumpu mine, located in the North Karelia region of eastern Finland, was a major industrial mining operation centered on a massive, volcanogenic massive sulfide (VMS) deposit. Geologically, the ore body was discovered within the Paleoproterozoic Outokumpu assemblage, where rich copper-cobalt-zinc mineralization was hosted within a unique complex of metamorphosed serpentinites, quartzites, and skarns rather than typical volcanic sequences. The discovery of a large, copper-rich glacial boulder in 1908 led directly to locating the mother lode in 1910, and formal state-backed extraction operations commenced shortly after in 1913. Outokumpu quickly grew into one of the largest copper producers in Europe, pioneering the advanced flash smelting process for copper refining during the mid-twentieth century. Following decades of intensive underground mining and the eventual depletion of the primary ore bodies, all formal commercial mining operations at the site ceased in 1989, and the old mining infrastructure was subsequently converted into a museum and historical center.

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