Piippumäki is located in south-eastern Finland, approximately 45 km southwest of the town of Mikkeli and 230km from Helsinki. An airborne electromagnetic anomaly indicates flake graphite occurrence at Piippumäki, which was confirmed by Åbo Akademi University, Turku, with fieldwork including surface sampling and high-resolution ‘Slingram’ electromagnetic measurements.
The 6km conductivity anomaly connects Piippumäki with the historic mine at Kärpälä – the most significant historical graphite mine in Finland, with grades as high as 51.6% Carbon graphite (“Cg”).
Outcrop grab samples collected in 2013 and 2015, associated with the anomaly, indicated grades of 5-10% Cg. Fieldwork also visually identified occurrences of coarse flake graphite hosted in quartz, feldspar and mica schists.
Slingram EM surveys conducted by Åbo Akademi defined two conductive zones of possible graphite schist along a strike extent of up to 2 km in length. Additional HLEM geophysical surveys in March 2016 provided further encouraging results including:
• 22 strong conductors defined with individual EM conductors traced over 1.6 km of strike
• Widths of up to 60 metres in the western part of the survey area
• The anomalies showing the strongest conductance and maximum width in the western part of the survey area are possibly associated with a fold hinge
Piippumäki is situated in the northern part of the Southern Finland Subprovince (SFS) of the Svecofennian province, 50 km southwest of the town of Mikkeli. The rocks in Piippumäki are Paleoproterozoic in age and were formed during the Svecofennian orogeny when the arc complexes Western Finland and Southern Finland docked to the Archean continent.
The flake graphite is hosted by quartz-feldspar gneiss and amphibolite that have been subjected to extreme pressure and temperature (granulite facies). Graphite is found in graphite-bearing layers in the gneiss with flakes observed at 1 mm diameter (super-jumbo large flakes). Scanning electron microscopy (“SEM”) work undertaken by Åbo Akademi shows that the graphite grains appear as regular and stacked parallel flakes. No impurities in the graphite are visible in the SEM images.
The average total sulphur (TS) is very low at 0.33% TS. Carbon graphite has been measured up to 14.7% Cg with an average grade of 6.41% over all analysed graphite-bearing rocks.
Piippumäki, Reservation Notification Area
Akku Minerals Oy has a Reservation Notification in the municipality of Pertunmaa/Mäntyharju, which covers the areas of perspectivity at Piippumäki. The Reservation Notification covers the entire geological strike of the deposit, but in areas near houses and roads, we must legally leave a buffer, and exploration will not occur near the shoreline or under the lake.
Learn more about a Reservation Notification here.
The below map shows the reservation area drawn with a pink line. Should Akku apply for an exploration licence, buffers around housing, roads and waterways will be applied as shown. No work will be carried out in the buffer areas.
