Mineral Deposits of Finland
Finland is a major European hub for mineral exploration and mine development. The country hosts Europe's oldest rock units and large cratonic blocks, analogous to Western Australia and Southern Africa. Although commodity prices are currently low, one development in the last boom was the recognition that many of the world’s currently active ore producing districts are extremely mature and future resources will have to come from different locations.
Thus this volume fills a gap in the market to provide an up-to-date and inclusive reference available that fully captures the scope of Finland's mineral deposits and their economic potential. It certainly delivers, providing comprehensive coverage of the major mineral occurrences in Finland. But this is significantly more than just a catalogue of occurrences – it is a major piece of scientific work. Each chapter is authored by a group of experts in their field and provides a comprehensive description of the mineral deposits discussed, techniques used in exploration and implications for mineral exploration and extraction.
The book is organised into parts that provide a summary of ore deposit discoveries in Finland; metallogensis of Finland and the surrounding areas; description of magmatic Ni-Co-Cu-Cr-V-PGE deposits; Carbonatite deposits (including kimberlites); Gold deposits; IOCG; VMS; Granite hosted; Black shale and other deposits; Exploration methods and resource definition.
Overall, this organisation is good, and each part is split into chapters where multiple deposits occur - each deposit representing a chapter. Sometimes this can be a little confusing, such as the placement of Sokli Carbonatite deposits in with ‘Black shale and other’ deposits rather than with Carbonatites; but these are minor points. Overall the book provides a logical study of Finnish mineral deposits.
The volume editing is good and the work largely free of errors. The illustrations are also good and informative. The book should be essential reading for anyone working in Finland in mineral exploration or economic geology - and more widely by those interested in the geology of Europe. The book would make an excellent template to be applied to other parts of the world.
Reviewed by Rob Bowell
MINERAL DEPOSITS OF FINLAND by WOLFGANG DEREK MAIER, RAIMO LAHTINEN & HUGH O'BRIEN (eds) 2015. Published by: Elsevier; 802pp ISBN: 978-0-12-410438-9 (hbk). Ebook available. List Price: £190.00. W: http://store.elsevier.com/product.jsp?isbn=9780124104389