More pics? What do you like about it?
Henlo bernds,
I recently landed a job over in North-Karelia, so I decided to visit one of my favourite place in Finland — Outokumpu. Outokumpu used to be called Kuusjärvi, but changed it name as the mining company Outokumpu became an integral part of the town's identity and townscape. The town literally grew around the mine over the years and as Outokumpu's mine was one of the longest lived mines in Finland the change was irreversable. The town centre is literally just 300 meters from the centre of the mine.
The mine lasted from 1913 to 1989, and because of that early date the envier omental protection and disposal of hazardous waste was to put it lightly neglected, but you know the war and eventual denbts had to be paid somehow...
The hazardous waste was dumbed to a place where a pond called Outolampi was located. After years and years of dumping hazardous waste mostly compromised of waste products from copper production such as ground up rocks, sulphuric acid, asbestos and unneeded metals accumulated to ground and polluted the groundwater. Outolampi was lost beneath all that crap. People thankfully understood what a problem a huge such a pile of waste was and "cleaned" it up. Outolampi was once again freed, but irreversibly changed from this process.
The pH of the lake is somewhere around 1-2, as in the summer it loses water and becomes more acidic. On the plus side, the pond water is great at conducting electricity, as the sulphuric acid has released all the harmful metals in the water. You can see the great colour from Google Maps. The pond releases a great rotten egg stench in the summer, but in the winter it is calm and not even that horrific to look at. Only with a strong flashlight and clear ice, you can see what horrid water lurks beneath you. I visited the lake at a prime time as there was no snow and a freezing weather that had formed small "frost flowers" on the ice. To you guys, this might seem like a banal thing to show, but I fucking love this little pond. Locals even call it sumppi (ie. coffee) for it's dark and mysterious colour. Trees around the lake are dead, but the small island on the lake has some majestic birches on it.
I would write more about this amazing pond, but my sauna is ready :3
I just have fixation on industrial accidents. My favorite town in Russia is Nikel as it was the coolest place I have ever seen in Russia. 10 km before the town even grass stopped growing. Outolampi is that but in miniature form. I have couple pics more. Some dead twigs and weird pipe coming from the mines direction. Also some pics from the mine.
I had just a couple pics in my old camera that are worth showing. Keretin torni seen from the other side of the lake. The mine went for many kilometers underground, so they had to build another exit from the mine a couple kilometers away. Also, just another picture of the water but snow had built up, so the ice was not as clear :(
After this I will just dump a lot of pics from the old mine, but I'm sleepy and need to catch some z's before wörk tomorrow. Sauna was amazing.
If you guys are interested, I can go and visit the old mine tomorrow and get some better pics for you. All of these pics were taken high af and just for friends, so they are quite shitty. The mine is a cool looking place anyway. Do you want to see old trains used in the mine or the power plant or something else? I'm too lazy to contact the museum, so I can't get inside the old mine outside from my working hours, but I can show you guys the outside of it. Hopefully this shitty site gets fixed soon because it keeps throwing me "4 files max" error if I use 4 pics.
Nah, the ice was thick. I was only scared about other people sneaking up on me while I was smoking weed in the middle of the pond.
Some pics from a couple of years ago, when I visited the same pond in summer. Found a kewl golf ball in the lake. I heard about local crows fucking with golfers by stealing their balls and throwing them in the lake. Many golfers told me these rumors and I even found evidence about it. Holy fuck, this site does not like me uploading these pics.
