The Finnish government has announced its plan to start operating the bankrupt Talvivaara nickel mine, whose former executives are currently on trial for creating environmental hazards.
"The objective of the state is to secure the mine's environmental situation and to gather private funding and ownership to create long-standing operational preconditions for the mine," the Ministry of Employment and the Economy said in a statement.
The European Union's biggest nickel mine, situated around 500 kilometres north of Helsinki, will be run by a fully state-owned company, Terrafame Mining, and is expected to restart operations in September.
In March, Talvivaara announced London-based investment group Audley Capital was to buy an 85 percent stake of the mine, but the company later withdrew from the deal.
The mine went bankrupt at the end of 2014.
Four former executives and bankrupt mine operator Talvivaara Sotkamo went on trial in Kainuu, east-central Finland on Tuesday (local time) charged with aggravated environmental damage.
AFP
