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EU SUPERCLUSTER LAPLAND AGENDA

OCTOBER 30TH, 2023 – DAY 1

MORNING SESSION
9:30-10:00 – REGISTRATION AND COFFEE
10:00-10:15 – WELCOME AND INTRODUCTION

SESSION 1: INNOVATIVE MINERAL EXPLORATION

10:15-12:00 – MODERATOR: JARI JOUTSENVAARA, UNIVERSITY OF OULU, KERTTU SAALASTI INSTITUTE
12:00-13:15 – LUNCH INCLUDED IN THE REGISTRATION

AFTERNOON SESSION

SESSION 2: EARTH OBSERVATION IN EXPLORATION & MINING

13:15-15:00 – MODERATOR: MAARIT MIDDLETON, GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF FINLAND 15:00-15:30: COFFEE BREAK – COFFEE AND TEA/POSTERS

SESSION 3: ENVIRONMENTAL, SOCIAL, AND GOVERNANCE IN EXPLORATION AND MINING

15:30-17:30 – MODERATOR: BENJAMIN LEPLEY, SLR CONSULTING (UK) LTD

17:30-18:15 – POSTER SESSION & WRAP-UP OF THE FIRST DAY

19:30-21:00 – DINNER

OCTOBER 31ST, 2023 – DAY 2

MORNING SESSION

SESSION 4: CRITICAL RAW MATERIALS (CRMS) SUPPLY

10:00-10:30 – COFFEE BREAK – COFFEE AND TEA/POSTERS

SESSION 5: NEW FRONTIERS FOR EXPLORATION


11:45-12:15 – CLOSURE PANEL DISCUSSION
MODERATED BY JUHA KAIJA & VESA NYKÄNEN, GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF FINLAND
12:00-13:15 – LUNCH INCLUDED IN THE REGISTRATION

TRANSPORTATION TO LEVI

13:30-16:00 – TRANSPORTATION TO LEVI

MAIN INFORMATION:

MORE INFORMATION HERE

SPEAKERS:

NICK COOK

Professor Nick Cook is an experienced multi-disciplinary geologist, team leader and business person with expertise in mineral exploration and collaborative research projects. Nick’s career includes periods of University research and teaching, mineral exploration and as a finance professional. Formerly the Chief Geologist for Mawson Gold and Technical Advisor for Southern Cross Gold, global roles that included responsibility for international collaborative industry-government-university research projects and as an industry supervisor for PhD, Masters and Honours projects (Finland, UK and Australia). This was in addition to providing on-the-job training for internal geological and technical staff.

Nick’s career highlights include numerous voluntary training and research activities, supporting an international standing in mineral exploration. Leading a stable technical team from the first discovery drill holes through to the Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) stage of the Rajapalot Au-Co deposit in northern Finland is just one highlight.

VESA NYKÄNEN

Vesa Nykänen graduated and gained his Ph.D. at the University of Oulu in 2008. He has been at the Geological Survey of Finland (GTK) since 1998 using GIS as a tool for bedrock mapping and mineral exploration. He is currently Research Professor on geoinformatics specialising in spatial data analysis and geological modelling with emphasis on mineral exploration. As a Research Professor Nykänen is focusing on further utilization of GIS in geoscience applications. His project portfolio includes both national and European level project funding. He is also Adjunct Professor at the University of Helsinki.

JUHA KAIJA

M.Sc, (geology) Senior specialist at GTK´s Energy and Construction Solutions unit.

Juha commenced work at the Geological Survey of Finland in 1995 in Nuclear Waste Disposal Research unit and worked in groundwater research and uranium migration studies in GTK´s first EU-project (Palmottu project). Since 2008 he has worked as project manager for several EU funded projects (topics: arsenic remediation, hydrogeochemical mapping, water management, critical raw materials exploration, raw materials policy, mineral processing). Currently Juha manages EIT-Raw Materials MinExTarget mineral exploration project, HE ISLANDR (Information-based strategies for land remediation) and is WP leader in HE EIS-project.

CHRIS STOCKEY

PhD, Earth Sciences. VECTOR Impact Creation Work Package Member and ESG Consultant, Satarla.

Chris is an ESG expert with a background in the earth sciences and science communication. Chris primarily works on VECTOR within the Impact Creation work package, integrating social, environmental, and technical geoscience research into combined analysis and communication tools. Outside of VECTOR Chris is an ESG Consultant and Nature Lead at Satarla.

MARKO HOLMA

MSc, geology & mineralogy. Project Geologist, Kerttu Saalasti Institute, University of Oulu, Finland & Chief Executive Officer, Muon Solutions Oy, Finland.

Marko has over 20 years’ experience as a multidisciplinary economic geologist, specialising in mineral deposit geology, exploration technology, and cosmic-ray muography. His geological passion ranges from micro to planetary scale. He co-founded the Arctic Planetary Science Institute (APSI) and Muon Solutions Oy, a company that develops muon detection technologies for mineral exploration and mining. He also works part-time at the Kerttu Saalasti institute of the University of Oulu, Finland.

AKU HEINONEN

Aku is the Director of Science and Innovations at the Geological Survey of Finland (GTK) and responsible for the development of scientific activities, competencies, and infrastructures at GTK. He holds an adjunct professorship (petrology) at the University of Helsinki, has experience in development of geoscience education, and has worked for 15+ years in the academia most recently as a lecturer in petrology, director of the geoscience degree programmes at the University of Helsinki, and as the head of the national FIN-GEO education development network.

ANA CLÁUDIA TEODORO

Ana received the BS., MSc., PhD, and Habilitation degrees in Geospatial Engineering from the Faculty of Science, University of Porto. Since 2020 she has been an Associate Professor at the University of Porto, Portugal. Her research interests include remote sensing, GIS, image processing, coastal zones, and geological applications. She has published more than 160 papers in peer-reviewed journals (ISI WoS and Scopus) and eight book chapters. Currently, she participates as a researcher, where she coordinates tasks and one European project (S34I) in several international (H2020 and ERA-MIN) and national projects.

MAARIT MIDDLETON

M.Sc. Quaternary geology, D.Sc. (Tech) remote sensing. Associate research professor in Geodata analysis, Geological Survey of Finland – GTK Maarit specializes on applying statistical and machine learning techniques on remote sensing, geochemical, geophysical datasets for mineral prospectivity modelling and environmental monitoring She has a 24-year-career at GTK and is currently the scientific coordinator of the HE MultiMiner project.

MORITZ KIRSCH

Ph.D., geology. Research Associate, Helmholtz-Institute Freiberg for Resource Technology (HIF), Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR). Moritz has been working at HIF for seven years, leading a group on Innovative Applications in the Department of Exploration. His research interests lie at the intersection of geology and technology, leveraging the latest digital tools, such as hyperspectral imaging, to characterise mineral assemblages and understand geological processes.

KRIŠTOF OŠTIR

PhD, remote sensing. Professor, University of Ljubljana Krištof has extensive experience in Earth observation and its applications in the areas of land subsidence and surface movement, land use and land use change, natural disaster monitoring, agriculture and forestry, mining, etc. He is currently focusing on the development of dense time series analysis and image processing using artificial intelligence. He has led or participated in several EU, ESA, and national projects.

SOPHIE GRAUL

PhD candidate in Mineral resources. Geometallurgist engineer. Tallinn University of Technology. Sophie is a PhD candidate specialised in Applied mineralogy and ore geology. She currently work on the REE resources and chracterisation of Estonian phosphorites. She has previously worked at Eramet ideas (France) as a Research Engineer, mainly on Fe-Ti placer deposits, pyrometallurgy and SEM-QEMSCAN projects.

BEN LEPLEY

CGeol MESci, Mining ESG Consultant, SLR Consulting Ltd
After 12 years as a mineral resource geologist, I transitioned into environmental, social and governance (ESG) within the mineral exploration and mining industry. My work involves embedding ESG concepts and processes into mineral project development and assisting clients implement positive change. The minerals and mining industry is such a fundamental part of the energy transition – providing the critical raw materials for low-carbon products – and as such it is incumbent on us as an industry to set the standard by mandating responsible practices from the first boots on the ground onwards. My previous role as a Chartered Geologist required me not only to have a deep understanding of geological ore-forming processes, but also to consider other factors that could be material for the viability of a project to develop from exploration into operation. Geotechnics, metallurgy, engineering, infrastructure, logistics, water and waste management and – with ever-more emphasis – the impact of the project on surrounding communities and the receiving environment; this is where my love for nature and interest in mineral deposits naturally converged. Alongside my core work, I dabble in education and improving public knowledge of geoscience and responsible mining. As part of my role on the Geological Society of London Council, I fly the flag for geoscience and encourage all industry representatives to do the same to ensure we feed the talent pipeline and have new recruits ready to be part of the solution for our ever-more pressing planetary challenges.

ALI ERDESAT

Ali holds a Master of Science degree in Sustainable Mining and Remediation Management, and is currently a PhD student. His doctoral research focuses on investigating into the sustainability of mining for critical raw materials. Ali is a research assistant at the Technical University Bergakademie Freiberg, specifically at the Institute of Mining and Special Civil Engineering. He is presently involved in the NetHelix project, which aims to develop an intelligent digital toolbox to enhance the sustainability and safer extraction of mineral resources.

EDUARDO SILVA

Eduardo is the Coordinator of the TEC4SEA platform at INESC TEC. Previously he was the Coordinator of the Centre for Robotics and Autonomous Systems (CRAS) at INESC TEC until 2019. He is also a Professor at the School of Engineering (ISEP) of the Porto Polytechnic Institute (IPP). With a PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Porto, his main research areas are marine robotics, control architectures, perception, and navigation for autonomous robots. He has participated in more than 20 research projects in the field of underwater robotics in different applications, including ¡VAMOS! and UNEXMIN EU projects, as well as TURTLE, SIDENAV or MARINEYE. He has more than 60 publications in the area of the Field Robotics. He is also currently the Coordinator for the TRIDENT EU funded project.

SAEID ASADZADEH

Saeid is based at the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ) working towards the application of EnMAP imaging spectroscopic data in geology and resource exploration. He received his Ph.D. in geologic remote sensing from the University of Campinas (Brazil) after many years in the mining industry. Currently, he is involved in the EU horizon-funded M4Mining research project, which is aimed at multi-scale, multi-sensor mapping and monitoring for sustainable extraction and safe closure in mining environments.

QUENTIN DEHAINE

Quentin is a senior researcher at the Geological Survey of Finland where he has been leading several national and EU research and innovation projects on ore geology, mineral processing, traceability and geometallurgy of battery minerals (Cobalt, Lithium) and critical raw materials (CRMs) such as Rare Earths Elements (REEs). After completing his Ph.D. at the University of Lorraine (Nancy, France), he worked as a postdoc researcher at the Camborne School of Mines, University of Exeter (UK) working on the geometallurgy of cobalt from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). In 2019, Quentin joined the GTK with the objective of developing innovative integrated approaches to support mine value chain optimisation, responsible sourcing, reducing technical risk, maximising resource efficiency and minimising environmental impacts. Quentin is also the officer for Scandinavia within the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) - Initiative on Forensic Geology (IFG).

TONI EEROLA

Toni is geologist (PhL) graduated in Brazil and Senior Specialist at the Mineral Intelligence Group, Mineral Economic Solutions Unit, Geological Survey of Finland (GTK) since 2012. Main focus is on the social license to operate, and ESG of mining industry, as well as circular economy. PhD student at the University of Eastern Finland (environmental politics). He has worked in mineral exploration, geological mapping and geoscience research, education and communication in Finland and abroad.

AXEL MÜLLER

Professor, mineralogy/geology. Natural History Museum of the University of Oslo Axel has a diverse, 27 years industrial-academic career. For 11 years he worked as an exploration geologist for the Geological Survey of Norway and international mining companies with the focus on global exploration for critical raw materials. In 2015 Axel was appointed as professor at the Natural History Museum at the University of Oslo, where he is teaching ore geology, geochemistry and mineralogy. Since 2020 he is coordinating the Horizon2020 GREENPEG project.

TIMO LINDBORG

Associate Professor, D.Sc. (Tech.)
Timo Lindborg is a member of the advisor network of Teknoventure Oy (www.teknoventure.fi). Dr. Lindborg has a Doctor’s degree in Industrial Economics, master of Science in Civil Engineering, and B.Sc. in Quaternary Geology and Geology. Dr. Lindborg was a professor in Mineral Entrepreneurship at Oulu University and the Luleå University of Technology during 2010-201. He was one of the founding entrepreneurs and CEO of two stock exchange-listed mining companies Sotkamo Silver AB and Endomines AB. He established and built up these companies. Sotkamo Silver’s mine commenced production in April 2019, and Endomines’ gold mine in 2010.

GRACIA OLIVENZA

ASGMI
Gracia has worked as a geologist since 2002, both in private companies and in the public sector, in the fields of geotechnics, hydrological planning, and environmental matters. Since 2018, she has been a part of the ASGMI General Secretariat, where she participates in projects funded by the EU related to raw materials (FORAM, INTERMIN, AlSiCal, START) and political initiatives such as the EU-Latin America Partnership on Raw Materials and EU-Latin America and the Caribbean policy dialogue on the identification of strategic and critical raw materials resources.

NIKOLAS OVASKAINEN

M.Sc, geology, Research scientist, Geological Survey of Finland – GTK. Nikolas has been at the GTK for 3 years. He is doing a PhD in brittle structural geology but has expertise in data analysis especially related to spatial GIS data. He has worked in projects related to nuclear waste disposal, geothermal energy and software development. Furthermore, he is a project manager in a nuclear waste disposal project, SAFER FLOP.

KERSTIN SAALMANN

Dr. rer. nat., Scientist, Geological Survey of Norway (NGU), Mineral Resources section Kerstin is a structural geologist with over 25 years of research experience in mapping, structural geology, and tectonics in various geological settings. She has been involved in research projects in the Arctic, Fennoscandia, Southern Brazil, and different countries in Africa. A significant part of research includes questions of ore deposit formation, with focus on the structural control of mineralization and the influence of tectonics on the metallogenic evolution of an area.

CHARMEE KALUBOWILA

MSc, geology. Doctoral Researcher, University of Oulu, Finland. Charmee is a doctoral student in the field of geology (geochemistry) at the university of Oulu and she´s currently working on the SEMACRET project. She has completed her master’s degrees in Mineral Resources & Sustainable mining and in GIS and Remote Sensing. She did her bachelor´s degree in Mineral Resources & Technology, majored in Mineral Processing Technology.

JUHA-MATTI KEKKI

M.Sc, geology. Project manager, Haapavesi-Siikalatva regional development organization Before starting in his exploration communications project, Juha-Matti spent most of his geologist’s career in Kylylahti underground mine working in various roles from trainee to Senior Mine Geologist. He has some exploration experience from Northern Finland, too.

JARI JOUTSENVAARA

Jari is a project manager and doctoral student at the University of Oulu. He is currently coordinating the Horizon Europe project AGEMERA. His research is related to the structural change within mining regions during and after the mine closure. His passion for the topic emerged from the depths of Pyhäsalmi mine, Finland, where he started his university career nearly two decades ago in the field of underground physics. He did his master´s thesis on the transformation of a former mine tunnel at the Pyhäsalmi mine into an underground physics laboratory. Currently, he is the research coordinator for the scientific repurposing of Pyhäsalmi mine, Callio Lab. He is a chair of the European Underground Laboratories Association.

He is a co-founder and board member of the University of Oulu research spin-off Muon Solutions Oy.

CLAUDIA HAASE

Ph.D. Geophysics. Researcher, Geological Survey of Norway (NGU)
Claudia has her degree from Kiel University, Germany, and has been at NGU for 10+ years. Her expertise lies in 2D/3D integrated modelling and she has been working on a variety of projects onshore and offshore Norway, ranging from crustal scale basement studies to mineral deposits. Data management and policy also fall within her area of work. Claudia is currently working in the H2020 GREENPEG project, which is delivering an innovative toolset for pegmatite exploration.

ANDREAS KNOBLOCH

Geologist, Managing Director – Beak Consultants GmbH, Freiberg, Germany
Mr Andreas Knobloch studied Geology at Technical University Bergakademie Freiberg and South Dakota School of Mines and Technology from 1998 to 2004. He joined Beak Consultants GmbH in 2005 and has been a project manager in various mineral exploration projects, among others in Kosovo, Rwanda, Uganda, Namibia, DR Congo and Nigeria. Since 2007, his research is focusing on application of artificial intelligence for mineral predictive mapping. Currently, he is leading related work packages in the Horizon 2020 project “GoldenEye” and the Horizon Europe project “EIS – Exploration Information System”. Since January 2023, he is Managing Director of Beak Consultants GmbH.

DIMITRA VATHI

Dimitra is a Mineral Resources Engineer (2021) of the Technical University of Crete (TUC). She also holds a MSc degree (2023) in the field of Geotechnology and the Environment from the same school. She has experience in the fields of ores processing and waste management. She has been involved as a researcher at the Laboratory of Mining and Metallurgical Waste Management of the School of Mineral Resources Engineering of the Technical University of Crete. She is currently involved in the research projects HE ENICON and EXCEED.

MARCO BRÖNNER

PhD Geophysics. Section Leader for Geophysics at the Geological Survey of Norway.
Marco has more than 20 years of experience working with a variety of geophysical datasets, including airborne magnetic radiometric and EM data. He is a specialist for geoscientific data integration and modelling. Marco has managed numerous projects, both with research and industrial funding. He is member of EGS geo-energy expert group and the Norwegian expert group for geogenic radioactivity and radon.

HARRI KAIKKONEN

D.Sc., M.Sc., Industrial engineering and management. Specialist, Geological Survey of Finland – GTK Harri Kaikkonen works as a specialist at the Geological Survey of Finland (GTK), working on mineral intelligence and critical minerals. During his time at GTK, he has worked with battery material sustainability issues and REE recycling supply chains. His expertise includes technology development, digital service development and agile development. He has previously worked as a researcher and project manager at the University of Oulu, Finland.

PAAVO NIKKOLA

Ph.D., geology. Research Scientist, Geological Survey of Finland – GTK
Paavo is a mineralogist and petrologist always keen to do a few more measurements. He does many types of compositional and isotopic analyses, but most of his time is spent with the scanning electron microscopes of the GTK research laboratory. For the last three years, Paavo has been working in the MinExTarget project, conducting a wide range of experiments ranging from heavy liquid separation tests to multivariate analyses of mineral trace element compositions.

MARI KIVINEN

Ph.D., geology. Senior scientist, Mineral Intelligence, Geological Survey of Finland – GTK Mari has worked in several multidisciplinary projects in subjects e.g., conflicts of interest in land use, life cycle thinking, international supply chains of minerals, and traceability. Currently her work focuses on 'Material flow scenarios for the Finnish economy’ (MaViSkene) project. The upcoming works will focus on critical minerals and raw materials supply in energy transition.

MALCOLM ARANHA

PhD, Post-doctoral researcher, Oulu Mining School
Malcolm is a geologist with experience in GIS based predictive exploration targeting and quantitative mineral resources assessment. He worked on mineral systems-based exploration targeting of REEs associated with carbonatite-alkaline complexes during his PhD and is currently working on the targeting of ultramafic-mafic intrusion hosted commodities in Finland.

MARIA MAVROUDI

Dipl., Mining engineering. Researcher, Montanuniversitaet Leoben, MUL
Maria is a researcher at the Chair of Mining Engineering and Mineral Economics of the Montanuniversitaet Leoben in Austria, working in the S34I project. She graduated from the National Technical University of Athens with a major in mining engineering. Currently she is working in topics regarding the sustainability of the extractive sector and earth observation (EO) technologies applied in mining.

KRISTIINA JOKELAINEN

CEO at SmartNorth, coordinator on Thematic Smart Specialisation Partnership on Mining, and European Commission S3 Expert Group member
She has long-term and extensive experience in regional development, EU cooperation and the development of smart specialisation, regional innovation ecosystems, and internationalisation. Before becoming an entrepreneur, Kristiina worked at the Regional Council of Lapland, responsible for S3 and interregional collaboration initiatives, including European mining regions’ collaboration and coordination of the DG Regio’s pilot Regions in Industrial Transition in East and North Finland.

ALVAR SOESOO

Alvar has over 35 years of geological experiences worldwide, including Iceland, Australia, Canada, Germany, Finland. Over 17 year’s experiences in administration and leading institutions (Institute of Geology, Taltech, Geological Survey, Target Research groups). Alvar has experiences on ore exploration and geological studies of metallic and energy resources (Australia, Canada, Jordan, Morocco etc). Presently, he is teaching students as Professor at Taltech and working as Science Advisor for the Geological Survey of Estonia.