In Lapland, Finland, the Inari and Sodankylä areas were Europe's only topsoil Gold Fields, where gold leaching has been economically viable. There have been several gold miners in the Lemmenjoki area. Some of them were professionals using machines but for many gold mining was a way of life. Jaakko Kangasniemi, a fourth-generation gold digger, surveys the Lemmenjoki gold rush in an interview with journalist Seppo J. Partanen.
Jaakko Kangasniemi came to Lemmenjoki to dig for gold with his father in 1948. At that time, the so-called gold rush lasted about 5-6 years to subside and began again in the late 1970s when the price of gold rose. Some gold diggers dig for their profession, for others gold mining is a way of life. Journalist Seppo J. Partanen interviewed gold digger Jaakko Kangasniemi in 1985.
The Finnish Mining Act was amended in 2011, which put an end to mechanical gold mining in June 2020. Many shovel gold diggers continue to look for hobbies, albeit more on a recreational basis.
More stories from the north in the Inari municipality's sound archive: www.tarinoideninari.fi
Also check out the Lapland Gold Miners' Association: www.kullankaivajat.fi
Gold pans Pellervo Kankainen's cabin in Jäkälä-Äyts on Lemari River in Inari in the 1970s. Photo: Anja Halla. Journalistic Image Archive, National Board of Antiquities. 
Gold digger Esa Kujala washes gold at a copper school in Lemmenjoki, Inari, Finland in the 1970s. He waves the copper coil to make the gravel stand out and the heavier gold remains at the bottom of the copper coil. Photo: Anja Halla. Journalistic Image Archive, National Board of Antiquities. 
Gold rinsing Aatos Flinck leans on his shovel in the Lemmenjoki river in Inari, Finland in July 1970. Photo: Anja Halla. Journalistic Image Archive, National Board of Antiquities. 
Gold digger's cabin in Lemmenjoki. Photo: Viklund, Veli-Pekka, 1975. Ethnographic image collection, National Board of Antiquities. 
Gold digger Esa Kujala listens to the radio while burning a pipe in her cabin on the Lemmonjoki river in Inari in Finnish 1970s. Photo: Anja Halla. Journalistic Image Archive, National Board of Antiquities.
Sources:
Sound archive of the municipality of Inari. Seppo J. Partanen's material 1980-1991. Recorded by Partanen Seppo J. and Timonen Martti.