Callio
Callio is a project to oversee the reuse of the Pyhäsalmi Mine, located in the town of Pyhäjärvi in Finland. Callio aims to make Pyhäsalmi Mine an operating environment for businesses and an underground research facility.
Callio is a joint project by the town of Pyhäjärvi and the University of Oulu. In 2017 the facility joined the "Baltic Sea Underground Facilities and Innovation Network".
The word "callio" is an anglicised version of the Finnish word "kallio" , meaning crystalline bedrock.
Facilities and access
Callio is an umbrella organization for a variety of non-mining activities in and around the mine. Of these, Callio Lab oversees scientific research and development. Proposed new activities include a secure underground data center, pumped hydroelectrical energy storage, plant and fungus growing laboratories, breeding sites for insects and fish, and several other types of underground businesses.As of 2018, there are four environmentally controlled laboratories in Callio. Listed top-to-bottom, they are:
- Lab 1 at 75 m level, occupied by the EMMA experiment;
- Lab 4 at 660 m ;
- Lab 3 at 990 m ;
- Lab 2 at 1430 m, 120 m2, height ≈9 m, currently occupied by the Callio Edible Insects from Mine project.
- Numerous additional service, storage and maintenance halls exist along the access tunnel.
Currently the mine harbors two scientific experiments: C14 liquid scintillator and EMMA, operated by CUPP, University of Oulu and University of Jyväskylä.
Access
The "main level" of the mine is at 1400 meters depth, and is equipped with service and social facilities, e.g., a restaurant and the deepest sauna in the world. Accessing the main level from the surface takes just 3 minutes using the elevator. The same descent takes about 30 minutes by car, along the 11 km long decline access tunnel.Activities
Recently the mine has opened up for a variety of cultural activities. It has hosted the deepest concert in the world as well as dance performances. The 11 km long spiral-shaped main tunnel has also seen several uphill running and cycling competitions.Public sporting events
Callio Extreme Run was held 19.5.2018 with over 50 participants treading the whole 11 km from the main level at 1410 meters underground to the top via the main access tunnel. The mine tunnel network consists of hundreds of kilometers of tunnel, so for the safety of the participants all other intersections and pathways were cordoned off. Participants ranged from ultra-endurance athletes and triathletes to regular exercisers. Adding to the challenge was the environmental conditions, as the run was constant uphill, the temperature over 23 °C and humidity varying between levels of 50%-100%. Runners all had to wear safety helmets fashioned with headlights. The men's professional series was won by Tino Tiilikainen, a member of the Vuokatti SkiTeam, beating the previous record held by Sami Jauhojärvi, with a time of 1:05:56. The women's professional series was won by Maija Oravamäki with a time of 1:17:27.Callio World Record Breakers competition was organized by Callio at Pyhäsalmi Mine on 7.9.2019. The competition was a part of the Strongman Champions League- circuit which has a total of 16 grand prix competition a year. The event was open to the public and televised as 12 strongmen from several countries participated in six events held on the mine mill grounds, as well as underground on the main level and in the open rock pit. 3 new world records were set in the farmerswalk, conan wheel, and deadlift categories by Aivars Smaukstelis, Antti Mourujärvi and Dainis Zageris.
Film productions
Callio was also facilitating the use of Pyhäsalmi Mine as a filming location for the new sci-fi television series White Wall, with a cast led by Aksel Hennie, Vera Vitali and Eero Milonoff. It is a Finnish-Swedish collaboration between Yle and SVT that was premiered in 2020 and is the most expensive Finnish television series made, with a 900 000 euro budget per episode. The mine served as one location for filming, with sets both above and below ground, where a special film set was built 660 meters underground in abandoned storage tunnels. Filming in Pyhäsalmi took place between November 2018 and April 2019 with a film crew of 50 people. Most of the extras required were locals and even miners themselves.Other productions have also taken note of the unique location and in October 2019 the film Hiidenkirnu: Giants Kettle will film scenes at the mine. The film is produced by Markku Hakala and is set in the 1970s and is described as a mystical story about a woman, a man and a giant trapped in a barn.
Recognitions
Callio Pyhäjärvi was awarded the National Energy Globe Award Finland 2019 for its concept on pumped hydroelectrical energy. The Energy Globe Award recognizes projects oriented in conservation of energy and utilization of renewable resources in 187 participating countries. The national winners will participate and compete for the World Energy Globe Award, with the ceremony taking place 12–13 November in Espoo, Finland to mark the awards 20th jubilee. The location was chosen as Espoo, because it was elected the most sustainable city in the world by United Nations in 2018.Research projects
Callio Lab
One major project Callio pioneered is the scientifically oriented . Callio Lab is a multidisciplinary R&D environment aiming to utilize better the unique infrastructure and facilities of the Pyhäsalmi Mine. The underground environment has numerous possibilities for research and experimentation in fields of physics, geosciences, underground construction, microbiology, food production, and life sciences. Callio Lab aims to bring new users to the mine and facilitate the beginning of new projects. Open call is continuous and new experiments or research plans can be proposed on their website. Callio Lab's workers assist new operators in getting started, this includes providing information, safety training and transportation in the mine as well as working as a liaison between them and the mine personnel. Callio Lab is a member of the network, which consists of underground laboratories and facilities in the Baltic region.Callio Lab's largest underground laboratory, Lab 2, was previously the prime candidate for the LAGUNA project, which fell through due to funding issues. LAGUNA is a proposed very large volume underground neutrino observatory, designed to study e.g., the excess of matter over antimatter in the universe. Pyhäsalmi mine would have been at the optimal distance from the CERN particle accelerators, which would have provided the neutrino beams for the experiment.