The FINPGE database on Platinum-Group element (PGE) deposits in Finland, in ACCESS®-format, was created during 2008 as an EU funded Kolarctic Neighbourhood programme Interreg and Tacis project ‘Strategic Mineral Resources of Lapland - Base for the Sustainable Development of the North’.

The database is available on a DVD, and its contents also are accessible through the Internet pages of the GTK (http://en.gtk.fi/ExplorationFinland/ ). Presently (5th of February 2010), the database contains information on 35 deposits and prospects. The threshold to be included into the database varies geographically. Most of the deposits having PGE as a sole or economically significant component are found in the Tornio-Näränkävaara belt of layered intrusions. In that belt higher threshold was applied as for the rest of the country, where entries were included in order to show the potential a particular geological formation or unit to contain PGE. For 25 deposits the database gives grade and tonnage information as well shows the amounts of contained metals; several estimates are given for some deposits. For the rest of the entries best drill hole intersections or outcrop minidrill samples are documented. One observation of a boulder has also been included, which is considered to be an important indicator of an as-yet undiscovered ore deposit.

The depicted concentration and content data include platinum, palladium, and rhodium and in many cases base metals nickel and copper, and also sulphur and cobalt in some cases.

Key features of the deposits – location, discovery, exploration history, deposit and wallrock geology, mineralogy, and genetic modelling – are covered by internally linked tables in the database. The database classifies deposits as a PGE deposits (5 classes) and Ni deposits (3 classes). The database also includes a large number of photographs, maps and other figures. Entries contain references to all primary sources of data. The references contain links to the original publications assuming they can be downloaded in electronic format. (http://en.gtk.fi/ExplorationFinland/).

Geology