Nordkalk plans to reopen the Ruonaoja Quarry in Kolari in northern Finland.

Nordkalk plans to reopen the Ruonaoja Quarry in Kolari in northern Finland.

The cement factory in the area was closed down in 1989 but Nordkalk quarried limestone in Ruonaoja until 1996.

The company has decided to reopen the quarry because new mining projects in northern Finland will create new markets for limestone-based products. Its application for an environmental permit was filed in December 2009, and the company aims to start test quarrying in the summer.

The operations and quarried volumes will grow little by little, although the company has applied for a permit to quarry 400 000 tonnes of limestone annually.

The quarrying will be outsourced, and it will employ directly 5-10 people, with the limestone being crushed at the site in Kolari before it is transported to the customers.

Nordkalak says repairing the railroad from Kolari to Äkäsjokisuu is essential to start the quarrying, and it has contacted the mining company Northland Resources, whose future plans also require the railroad to be mended.