March 16 saw the centenary of the discovery of a rich copper ore deposit in Outokumpu in the eastern part of Finland. This discovery led to the establishment of Outokumpu Oy and a booming mining industry in Finland. Over the years, Outokumpu has experienced a major transformation, evolving from a mining and multi-metal company to one of the world’s leading producers of stainless steel.
CEO Juha Rantanen: “The history of Outokumpu is a fascinating story that is tightly connected to the development of Finnish society and world history. From the very beginning, the hallmarks of the company’s operations have been strong technical expertise, curiosity and courage. These, combined with a genuine customer focus, are also vital for success in today’s global competition, and form a good basis for the implementation of our strategy. As a strong and fully recyclable material, stainless steel is one of the key building blocks of a sustainable future.”
A pictorial history of Outokumpu is available online at www.outokumpu.com/history
Outokumpu’s mining operations were small-scale in the early years, but once ownership was transferred to the Finnish State in 1925, new opportunities opened up. A modern electric smelting plant was built in Imatra in 1935. The company built a metal works in Pori to refine raw copper and manufacture semi-finished products. During the war, the smelter in Imatra was moved to Harjavalta in 1944. With new ore discoveries, mining operations grew and led to the start-up of zinc, cobalt and nickel works.
In the 1940s, a shortage of electricity forced Outokumpu to seek ways to decrease its electricity consumption. This led to the birth of the flash smelting process – which turned out to be one of the most revolutionary inventions in metallurgy. Many new smelting plants all over the world adopted this new method. The company turned its technology expertise into a new business, which eventually led to the listing of Outokumpu Technology in 2006 and to the birth of Outotec.
Outokumpu started down the road toward stainless steel in 1960 when a chrome ore deposit was discovered in Kemi. The construction of a ferrochrome smelter in Tornio, combined with the nickel works in Harjavalta, provided Outokumpu with the key raw materials for stainless steel. Tornio’s steel melt shop and cold rolling mill started up in 1976.
In 2000, Outokumpu embraced a powerful new strategy of growth and change, which included strengthening the company’s position in stainless steel and pruning away old businesses, such as the production of nickel. Outokumpu sold its copper and zinc mining operations, and later also its entire copper products business.
In Tornio, stainless steel production capacity was doubled, giving Outokumpu an even firmer foothold in the global market. Negotiations with seasoned stainless steel experts Avesta Sheffield, an Anglo-Swedish company, led to a merger and two of the oldest companies in the industry became part of the Outokumpu Group. The Group’s history dates back to 1848 in Sheffield, where stainless steel was invented around 1913. In Sweden, the traditions have even deeper historical roots. The Degerfors plant celebrates its 350th anniversary this year.
