It is also part of the integrated ferrochrome and stainless steel manufacturing chain owned by Outokumpu in the Kemi-Tornio region.

The purpose of the Kemi Mine in the long production chain from chromite ore to stainless steel is to produce concentrates from ore as raw material for the manufacture of ferrochrome at the ferrochrome plant located in Tornio.

Low accident figures, together with clean and properly organized working environments, both 500 meters underground and on the surface, make an excellent setting for effective production, modern technological applications and the use of advanced working methods.

Operations cause only a minor environmental impact because of the insolubility of the oxidic chromite ore, the chemical-free concentration method based on gravity, and the sealed process water circulation covering the entire mine and concentration process.

Signs of the existence of a chromite ore body were first discovered by amateur diver Martti Matilainen.

Of the samples he sent to the Geological Survey of Finland, one was discovered to be high in chrome content on 30 June 1959.

In addition, the volume of mineral reserves is approximately 98 million tonnes, having been evaluated to a depth of one kilometre.

[2] The deposit, with an average thickness of 40 meters, is nearly vertical and approximately one kilometer in length.

In terms of excavated volume, the mine, which opened in 1968, is among the largest in Finland, with an annual excavated volume of 2.4 million tonnes of ore. By the end of 2005, a total of 31.4 million tonnes of chromite ore had been extracted from various open-pit mines.

Ore extraction started at level 500, from which the process proceeds upwards towards the bottom of the open-pit.

The ore is hoisted through the shaft to an unloading silo located in a 70-meter-tall lifting tower, from where it is forwarded to the concentration process.