The Haapaluoma pegmatite deposit was found in 1958, when Paavo Iloniemi found feldspar boulders while digging a ditch.

Haapaluoma is a pegmatite quarry mined for feldspar from 1961 until 1997, and it has been quarried by Oy Lohja Ab and later by Paraisten kalkki companies.

The pegmatite consists of two parallel dykes that lie within the granodioritic country rock. The main dyke is 0.5 km long and 10 – 30 m wide. The main minerals of the pegmatite are microcline, albite, quartz, and mica. Haapaluoma is a zoned lithium pegmatite containing accessory beryl, spodumene, lepidolite, columbite, and other pegmatitic minerals.
The pegmatite also contains tourmaline in large crystals and crystal groups.

The iron content of the feldspar in the mine was very low. It was delivered in Finland to Tammisaari porcelain (now IDO Bathroom) and to the glass wool factories in Forssa and Hyvinkää. The feldspar was also finely ground at the plant located in Kemi, and the powder was delivered to Hackman-Arabia. It was exported abroad in sacks to Poland and Hungary.

There is currently free access to the decommissioned Haapaluoma quarry. Various lithium-containing minerals can still be found in the quarry's stone piles, such as purple-colored lepidolite, tourmaline in red (rubellite) and multicolored, red morganite, kunzite, the bright reddish form of spodumene, and, rarely, eucryptite. There is an information board near the locked gate of the quarry, and the key to the gate can be obtained from Peräseinäjoki tourist information, which is located eight kilometers from the quarry next to the Kalajärvi caravan park.

The fifteen-meter-deep quarry is currently filled with water and is used as a diving site. In the summer of 2008, a seven-meter long mid-engine boat was sunk to the bottom of the quarry.

Moderatetly N-dipping, E-W-aligned dykes (c. 10–––30 x 700 m + ) Discordant to metamorphic foliations in wall rock
Zoned, complex pegmatite; late metasomatic albite replacement zones
The Haapaluoma Li ± Be ± Sn prospect consists of two moderately (50 − 60°) N-dipping and c. E-W-striking pegmatite dykes intruding a foliated granodioritic host rock. The main eastern dyke is c. 500 m long and 10 – 30 m wide, while the western dyke is about 230 m long and of similar width.

Other Databases

Wikipedia:	https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haapaluoman_kaivos
Wikidata ID:	Q63103826

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References