In 1987, some 30 km north of Sodankylä in Finnish Lapland, prospectors made a promising discovery of rock samples containing nickel and copper. It soon became clear that this Kevitsa ore find would become one of the largest ever made in Finland.
In the 1990s and early 2000s, the mining rights for the deposit changed hands several times. Actual mining did not begin until 2012. Since 2016, the Kevitsa open pit has been owned by the Swedish company Boliden. In 2024, it processed almost 10 Mt of ore, primarily nickel and copper, as well as cobalt, platinum, palladium and gold.
Today, Boliden Kevitsa’s polymetallic mine is one of the largest in Finland. It provides direct and indirect employment for hundreds of people in Lapland and generates significant tax revenues for the region. Production is expected to continue well into the 2030s.
Responsible metal production in Arctic conditions
The strategy of Boliden revolves around responsible mining, circular economy solutions and the production of critical metals for the green transition. Boliden Kevitsa’s polymetallic mine is an integral part of this whole.
The bedrock at Kevitsa is demanding in all respects. The rock is both tough and extremely abrasive, according to Juha Ranta, Drilling Development Coordinator at Boliden Kevitsa.
“The mixture of various ore zones, wall rock and waste rock has formed over thousands of years,” Ranta says. “Alongside the copper and nickel, there is cobalt, platinum, palladium and gold, and each zone behaves differently when drilled.”
The natural conditions in Sodankylä don’t make mining any easier either. Ranta explains: “In winter, the groundwater in the pit is completely frozen. The hammer must operate just as reliably at -40 degrees as it does at +35 degrees in the summer. That’s a tough combination for any equipment.”
Technologically, Kevitsa is a state-of-the-art mine. Production drilling is conducted almost entirely by remote control. From the control room, operators monitor the drill rigs working in the pit around the clock.
Testing and developing Robit’s H8 DTH hammer together
Since early 2025, Robit’s H8 DTH hammer has been tested and developed at Kevitsa in close cooperation with Boliden, according to Robit Sales Director, Kimmo Kangas.
“The feedback from the operators has been encouraging: the H8 is easy to drill with, penetration rate is good and durability looks promising,” Kangas says.
The H8 hammer has been tested with two different 229 mm drill bits to optimise the combined performance of hammer and bit for Kevitsa’s conditions.
The H8 is by no means the first hammer to be tested in Kevitsa’s demanding rock. Tools that perform well elsewhere have often revealed weaknesses in Lapland. “Here, for example, rock hardness and the way the impact energy bounces back from the rock can be very different from what you encounter in other mines,” Ranta notes.
Cooperation with Robit’s product development team has been close. Ranta added: “Whenever we’ve found a component that doesn’t last, we’ve sat down together to decide what to do about it. Do we change the material or redesign the part completely? Recently, we’ve focused on improving the hammer’s wear life, first the ‘innards’ and now increasingly the durability of the hammer body.”
At Kevitsa, the “Marathon” version of the H8 hammer is in use, featuring a wear-protected outer casing. The goal is to extend service life and reduce both downtime and spare part consumption.
A step towards more economical and sustainable mining
Boliden works systematically towards environmentally friendly and cost-efficient mining. Ranta says: “The drilling tools are one part of that. With the right tooling, you can achieve substantial cost savings, both in the equipment itself and in fuel efficiency.
“Equipment durability and reliability have a direct impact on cost per drill meter. As wear resistance improves, material flows – and therefore costs – go down.”
He added: “New surface treatment methods also allow us to make the materials more wear-resistant. Reliability improves when components that have proved weak are reshaped and redesigned.”
Testing the H8 hammer at Kevitsa is part of this overall effort.
“With measures like these, we keep moving towards economical mining, with green values firmly in mind,” Ranta concluded.
The post Kevitsa rock pushes Robit DTH hammers to their limits appeared first on International Mining.