Sotkamo

Sotkamo [ sɔtkɑmɔ ] is a municipality with 10,685 inhabitants (as of 31 December 2012) in the north- eastern Finland. It is located about 500 kilometers northeast of the capital Helsinki in the south landscape Kainuu on the border with Savo.

Settlement focus are the two neighboring towns and Sotkamo Vuokatti that are quite picturesque on isthmuses between several lakes. Vuokatti is one of the largest ski resorts in Finland. The hills ( vaara ) of the environment reach a stately Finnish standards of up to 345 m and thus allow even runs. In the summer Sotkamo attracts mainly swimming and hiking tourists. To the east of the district is of about 44 square kilometers of national park Hiidenportti, an almost untouched marsh and coniferous forest landscape in the south, the municipality share of the national park Tiilikkajärvi.

The main industry is in addition to tourism, mining. In the settlement, the company Mondo Minerals Oy Lahnaslampi Talk promotes.

Talvivaara

Near the village of Talvivaara are the largest untapped nickel deposits in Europe, extending over a total area of ​​60 km ². The company Talvivaara Kaivososakeyhtiö Oyj operates in the two distant 3 km mines Kuusilampi and Kolmisoppi by open pit mining of the nickel-copper - cobalt - zinc ore. Small amounts of uranium in the ore are present, about 25 mg / l, which is obtained as a byproduct. According to mine operators, the mine could still cover as 80 % of the national demand for uranium. The promotion was approved in 2006, in 2012 showed several times on samples from leaky retention basins lying above the limit amounts of heavy metals and uranium. On April 11, 2013 sold the hitherto largest shareholder, the Finnish Persionsfond Illmarinen, all shares of Talvivaara Mining Company due to the ongoing and occurring especially lately problems for the environment and in production.

Boroughs

The municipality Sotkamo also include the widely scattered settlements Alasotkamo, Halmetvaara, Heinämäki, Jormaskylä, Juholankylä, Juurikkalahti, Kontinjoki, Korholanmäki, Laakajärvi, Losovaara, Maanselkä, Naapurinvaara, Nuasjärvi, Ontojoki, Paakinmäki, Pohjavaara, Riekinranta, Sipinen, Sipola, Soidinvaara, Sumsa, Suovaara, Tipasoja, Torinkylä, Tuhkakylä, Vuokatti, Ylisotkamo and Ärväänkylä.

It is twinned with Isny.

In sporting terms Sotkamo is mainly known by the pesäpallo team Sotkamon Jymy.