Rugåsnesodden

Coordinates: UTM 33W 0387004 7256583, 65°24'44.0''N 12°33'56.8''E

Primary interests: Tourism, education

This old marble quarry with cubic stone blocks and sawed walls is part of an area with marble stretching from Tosenfjorden to Velfjord. In 1897, the Geologist J.H.L Vogt described the marble of good quality. Production commenced the same year and terminated in the 1930s. The creamy white and coarsegrained marble was used as building material. The quarry is, moreover, a rare display of Early 20th century wire sawing quarrying methods.

Karst landscape with karren and dolines can be seen surrounding the old quarry. The marble occurrences provide a rich ground for biodiversity, and a boreal rainforest displaying a high biological diversity surrounds the quarry. The local authorities discuss protection of this forest as this text is written.

A trail leads from Hommelstø out to the quarry, but this is old and needs to be cleared. This site is visited by tourists today, but only as part of a guided tour, and then by boat from the fjord. If the path, leading through the boreal forest with karst caves, could be cleared, we belive this site would have a high tourist potential.