An iron deposit first described early 20th century.

1907 - 1912 Exploration
1911 - 1911 Exploration
1918 - 1918 Exploration by Vogt & Vogt
1939 - 1939 Diamond core drilling by A/S Sydvaranger
1995 - 1995 Exploration by NGU.

From the NGU report:

Early claims in the Sørreisa field were registered in 1903, followed by exploration and development work between 1907 and 1912 involving 10–25 workers. Parts of the Espenes deposit were surveyed using magnetometer measurements in 1911, and geological investigations with sampling were carried out in 1918. In 1939, A/S Sydvaranger conducted diamond drilling with eight boreholes.

The ore body extends over approximately 6–7 km, from Espenes farm via Hompene to south of Børingsvatn, and continues a few kilometers further toward Bjørga. It is exposed in trenches spaced roughly 100–200 meters apart. Blasting across the full thickness has been conducted at several locations. The average thickness is about 20 m, with iron contents reported at 25–30% acid-soluble Fe in early reports.

Drilling north of Børingsvatn in 1939 indicated ore thicknesses between 10 and 52 m (average ~25 m), with grades of about 23% total Fe, 16% magnetic Fe, and 0.8% phosphorus. The drilled section covers roughly 900 m in length and about 22,000 m² in cross-sectional area.

The iron ore occurs just beneath a persistent calcite marble horizon within quartz–amphibole–biotite schist. The mineralization is medium- to fine-grained, banded, and partly quartz-banded, with interlayers of barren schist up to several meters thick. Magnetite is the dominant iron oxide, while hematite is rare and observed only at one occurrence. Pyrite appears as an accessory mineral.

The NGU Ore Database lists 29 prospects and additionally some places that were sampled. In the vicinity of the coordinates several prospects can be seen at the LiDAR map.

Phosphorus is mentioned as a possible resource, together with the iron.

An article in newspaper Folkebladet.no (Pay wall) of 24 June 2026 reports about renewed interest for this deposit.

Other Databases

Link to Geological Survey of Norway:	1413

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References