The Kittila property consists of 11,130 hectares in tenements plus a mining licence covering 847 hectares. The appearance and geology of the area is similar to that of the Abitibi region of Canada.
The region around the Kittila mine is underlain by mafic volcanic and sedimentary rocks of the Kittila Greenstone belt oriented roughly north to north-northeast and near-vertical. The volcanic units are further subdivided into iron-rich rocks to the west, and magnesium-rich rocks to the east. The contact between these two rock units is a north-south-oriented, 100- to 200-metre-thick structural zone (the “Suurikuusikko Trend”), which is strongly sheared, brecciated and characterized by intense hydrothermal alteration and gold mineralization.
The Suurikuusikko Trend hosts the Kittila deposit. Multiple mineralized zones have been traced over a strike length of more than 25 kilometres within the Suurikuusikko Trend. Most of Agnico-Eagle’s work has focused on the 4.5-kilometre segment that hosts the five main zones of the known gold reserves and resources. From south to north they are: Ketola, Etela, Suuri, Roura and Rimpi, which can be seen on the longitudinal section.
Deposits
The ore at the Kittila mine is refractory, making gold extraction relatively difficult because the gold is generally locked inside the two main sulphide minerals – arsenopyrite and arsenic-rich pyrite. Only about 2% is very fine-grained "free gold" (not locked in sulphide grains) and easier to extract. Most of this free gold is found in the outer, oxidized or eroded sections of the ore.