SUURIKUUSIKKO, in the Central Lapland greenstone belt, is the largest gold deposit in northern Europe. It has a current in situ resource of 110 t gold.
The ore zone at the Kittilä mine (mined by what are known as the Suuri and Roura pits) is approximately 4.5 km (2.8 mi) long, 3.3 km (2.1 mi) wide, 1.1 km (0.68 mi) deep. Drilling is done using both Sandvik and Atlas Copco drill rigs, with ore being loaded into Caterpillar 777 dump trucks by Caterpillar 385 hydraulic excavators. Mining in the pits is expected to last for up to five years.