description: Outokumpu's mining operations were small-scale in the early years, but once the 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.
language: English
title: A history of Outokumpu
titlecomplete: A history of Outokumpu
ratings_count: 1
publisher: Gummerus