Tapojärvi at Sotkamo Silver mine: continuity and risk notes for production engineers
Reviewed by Joe Ashwell
First reported on International Mining – News
30 Second Briefing
Tapojärvi has restarted as main mining contractor at Sotkamo Silver’s underground silver mine in Finland, resuming a role it previously held from 2018 to 2023 under a new agreement signed in June 2025. The contract covers full-scale production mining services, including drilling, blasting, loading and haulage in a familiar orebody and infrastructure, allowing rapid ramp-up using existing site knowledge and established operating procedures. For geotechnical and production engineers, continuity in contractor, ground control methods and equipment fleet should reduce interface risk and support stable output planning.
Technical Brief
- Similar brownfield underground contracts increasingly favour returning contractors where historic geotechnical and production data are already integrated.
Our Take
With silver featuring across 40 keyword‑matched pieces in our database, the renewed Tapojärvi role at Sotkamo Silver’s mine positions the operation to benefit operationally if the extreme price volatility seen in late‑2025 silver market coverage persists.
Our coverage includes several multi‑metal assets where silver is a by‑product of copper or polymetallic orebodies (e.g. Cobre Las Cruces and Khoemacau), so a dedicated primary silver mine like Sotkamo Silver’s tends to be more directly exposed to silver price cycles when negotiating or renewing mining contracts.
The 2018–2023 main‑contractor history at Sotkamo Silver’s mine suggests Tapojärvi brings site‑specific productivity data and cost benchmarks that newer contractors would lack, which typically strengthens a contractor’s hand on performance‑based terms in follow‑on project or contract‑award work.
Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.
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