Sillamäe (Estonian for ‘Bridge Hill’; known also by Germanised names of Sillamäggi or Sillamägi), is a town in Ida-Viru County in the northern part of Estonia, on the southern coast of the Gulf of Finland. It has a population of 13,666 (as of 1 January 2017) and covers an area of 10.54 km². Sillamäe is located at the mouth of Sõtke River.

Economy

After uranium processing ceased in 1989 and Estonia regained independence in 1991, industrial activity at Sillamäe experienced significant decline throughout the 1990s resulting in a high unemployment rate among the local population. The Sillamäe plant was privatized in 1997 to form AS Silmet and continues to produce rare metal and rare earth metal products. It remains the top world producer of niobium and tantalum products including hydroxides, oxides, various grades of metal, metal hydrides, metal powders and NbNi alloy. Among rare earth element products are lanthanum, cerium, praseodymium, neodymium and samarium-europium-gadolinium carbonates, oxides, metals, chloride and nitrate solutions.

On 4 April 2011, the American rare earth metal producer Molycorp announced its acquisition of a 90% stake in AS Silmet. The deal was valued at $89 million at the time. The company was renamed AS Silmet-Molycorp.

In 2005, a deep-sea port (SILPORT) with facilities able to handle dry bulk, liquid fertilizers and oil was opened in Sillamäe. A regular ferry service between Sillamäe and Kotka, Finland was inaugurated in 2006, but was forced to shut down in 2007 due to a low load factor. However, the cargo operations continue to show a steady growth. In 2011, the Sillamäe port reached 4.9 million metric tonnes in cargo traffic taking fifth place among the largest ports in the Baltic states after Tallinn, Riga, Klaipeda and Ventspils.

There are several seaside resorts located in the vicinity of Sillamäe (Toila and Narva-Jõesuu) that were especially popular during the Soviet era.