The road is closed. That’s why I’ll leave the car here and continue by foot.
And here we have the largest mine in the area. There were a total of three of them, and the ore from the two others was transported here for enrichment. This one broke ground in 1959 and was opened in 1964. It was closed after the accident at the neighbouring mine in 1975. After that it served as the workshop of the mining company until 1985.
Not the first thing I expected to see: a 1980’s Mitsubishi Pajero.
Seems like there were loads more of them. I can spot at least a late model Ford Sierra, a Lada Niva and a Mitsubishi pick-up.
And loads more.
But I didn’t come here for the cars. I came here for the buildings, and they seemed bigger and in better shape than in the previous place.
More cars.
And other vehicles. These ones run on lichen.
As you can see, there is an open door behind the reindeer. When I got to the doorway, I spotted two more reindeer inside.
Sometimes they can be aggressive. But I figured out that if I ran inside quickly and jumped on the steps leading to the second floor right behind the door I would be safe.
There was a huge noise. Hundreds of reindeer scared shitless ran out of the building. There had been a whole herd of them seeking shelter from the scorching sun outside.
Upstairs there were no reindeer. Instead there was a space, which looked like a storage of some sort.
I wonder, what these have been used for.
The shelves were mainly empty.
Nothing much here either. It looks like there has been some sort of machinery here, but it has been removed. When the mine closed a lot of things were moved to another mine of the same company.
A lonely reindeer and some old trucks.
Three machines were left.
The text says input from the enrichment plant, but I have no idea what it has done.
What was left were two TV antennas.
A box from the Nokia cable factory, another arm of the company, which later became famous for its mobile phones. The former cable factory was closed in the late 1980’s and was under a demolition threat. It was later protected and now is one of the largest culture centers in the whole country.
Even a part of this building has collapsed.
These doors were welded shut.
Found a gap.
And found a bunch of old barrels.
So the reindeer ran to this side of the mine. Now I’ve scared them away again.
I found another hole in the wall to the area which was several stories high, stuck my camera through it and gave it a shot. And photographed one of the craziest shots ever. A road grader on a floor full of reindeer hair and shit and three scared reindeer one of which is taking a piss.
The joke here is, that a reindeer piss is a distance of about 7,5 kilometers – the distance a reindeer pulling a sleigh can run without taking a piss. Welcome to Lapland. It’s a world of its own.
Now that I was sure that the reindeer had mostly left the building, I would try to find a way downstairs.