Ojamo lime mine finland

Ojamo lime mine...

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OJAMO MINE
Deep water photography and mine diving in Finland
by EuroTek Presenters Antti Apunen & Janne Suhonen

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Deep water photography and mine diving in Finland
Ojamo lime mine is situated in Lohja, some 60 kilometers west from Helsinki. The mine is the most popular cave diving site in Finland as there are no diveable natural caves. The conditions for diving are excellent all year round. The ground water is crystal clear. The temperature of the water inside the rock is approximately four degrees all year round. The quarry is covered by ice during the winter.
A several kilometre-long network of tunnels begins at the bottom of the quarry. The mine tunnels pierce the granite and follow the lime vein that snakes through the basement rock. Inside the rock there are immense mine halls, connected one after the other by the tunnels like a pearl necklace.
New tunnels are constantly explored. The longest dives are a couple of kilometers from the entrance. The longest tunnels are at the 88 meter level, which has been the main mining level of the mine.

Presentation packed with spectacular photography such as above where divers are at 130m depth in the Ojamo mine in Finland (click on image to see larger size)

The mining industry in Ojamo was at its busiest during the first half of the last century. The mine was closed in the mid-60s and the pumping of water from the mine was stopped. The mine filled with water within a few years. The water in the mine reaches at least 200 metres deep.
The mine is full of things people have left there. Abandoned tools and dynamite boxes rest on the cave floor. A wheelbarrow has been left at the foot of the stairs ready for the next shift. The electric lamps are hanging off the ceiling as if waiting for the lights to be turned on again.
During the Second World War, Russian prisoners of war mined the rock in shifts and lived in tents erected in the strip-mining pit. In the winter they only had enough mantles for the men working their shift.
Authors of Divers of the Dark (www.diversofthedark.com),Antti Apunen and Janne Suhonen will discuss about deep diving in Ojamo’s cold waters and techniques of photography.

www.diversofthedark.com

Antti Apunen and Janne Suhonen
Janne Suhonen is a Helsinki-based freelance photographer. Born in 1975, he graduated from the Lahti Design Institute and specialises in underwater photography. Janne is known and widely recognized for his unique style of photography without flashlights.
Author Antti Apunen is a Helsinki-based writer and entrepreneur in the marketing field. Born in 1971, he has a background in journalism and still works with several newspapers and magazines.
The two men have published the cave diving book Divers of the Dark as well as several articles on cave diving together. They have been diving together for years and have visited caves and seas all over the world.
Antti and Janne are currently working on a television documentary about the evacuation of Russian forces from Hanko during World War II. The team has located and photographed previously undived warships that Soviet Union lost in the Finnish Gulf.
They are also working on a cave diving exploration documentary in France.
Visit www.diversofthedark.com for more information about Molnár János and the other projects.