The mine at Haveri, 35 km. north-west of Tamperi near the shores of Lake Kyrösjärvi, was worked in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries for iron ore, which was smelted from 1843 at the Tammerkoski blast furnace in Tampere. Impurities in the ore led to the closure of the mine, but it was revived in the 1930s for the extraction of gold and silver, and during the Second World War it was an important source of copper. Mining operations employed some 150 people, and the maximum output of ore produced about a kilogram of pure gold per day. The winners’ medals for the Olympic Games of 1952 in Helsinki were made of gold from Haveri. Mining operations came to an end in 1961.
The museum, managed by the Pirkanmaa Provincial Museum, is one of the attractions in what is now a location for holidays. It displays some tools and specimens of ore, and there are diagrams indicating the extent of shaft mining, but its most impressive feature is the open air pit from which ores were quarried, the bottom of which is now filled with water. The houses in the village occupied by miners in the mid-twentieth century – Piippulanrivi – have been restored, and in the summer holiday season the museum is the location for cultural events.
Haveri Gold Mine Museum
Haverin Kultakaivosmuseu
Haverintie
39310 Ylöjärvi
Finland
+40 (0) 508 - 9047
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