EU SUPERCLUSTER LAPLAND GEOCONFERENCE

ABOUT THE EVENT

Currently the EU is highly dependent on a small number of countries for raw materials, especially the critical raw materials that it needs for strategic value chains such as e-mobility, batteries, and renewable energy. Europe’s opportunity to become self-sufficient, resilient, sustainable and responsible in critical minerals supply from its own resources is a reachable goal due to its geological setting and significant mineral endowment.

However, many of the critical raw materials do not form their own mineral deposits, but rather are produced as by-products, associated with other primary commodity mines. This switch to a multi-element way of mining will demand new ways to conduct exploration activities in general, as exploration must nowadays shift to the more integrated point of view of mineral systems. There is also a need to develop innovative exploration concepts and data analysis tools to enhance the probability of finding new sources of critical raw materials for the EU’s economy.

Thirteen EU-funded raw materials projects EIS, AGEMERA, CIRAN, EXCEED, GOLDENEYE, GREENPEG, M4MINING, MaDiTraCe, MinExTarget, MultiMiner, S34I, SEEMS DEEP and SEMACRET, as well as the University of Queensland (Australia) are partnering up to organize a one-and-a-half-day clustering event “European Union SuperCluster Lapland Geoconference”, which will take place on Monday 30th and Tuesday 31st October 2023 in Rovaniemi, Finland. With this event, the organisers hope to bring together a wide range of stakeholders, such as the European Commission, EU projects and other initiatives related to the raw materials sector; regional authorities; industrial representatives; exploration companies as well as other interested stakeholders, to discuss and exchange ideas on current technological challenges and topics within the sector.

The SuperCluster event will be organized just before the official start of the 14th Fennoscandian Exploration and Mining (FEM) 2023 conference (Levi, Kittilä, Finland. Home – FEM (femconference.fi)). Planning for transport from Rovaniemi to FEM Conference in Levi is underway. This is for those participants who would like to attend both events (see map here: Rovaniemi – Levi Summit – Google Maps). The FEM conference is one of the most significant and largest mining industry events in Europe.

The latest live conference FEM 2019 brought together 1215 participants from 32 different countries and more than 400 organizations to Lapland.

The expected number of SuperCluster participants is about 100 persons, and we hope to attract people and companies who usually do not attend the FEM conference. The main target audience are European Commission, EU projects and other initiatives related to the raw materials sector; regional authorities; industrial representatives; exploration companies as well as other interested stakeholders.

This meeting will comprise 20-minute oral sessions, poster space and discussion time to maximise the benefits to all participants. No keynote talks are planned – we regard it as more important to hear from as many EU-funded project participants as possible. Planning for transport from Rovaniemi to the FEM Conference in Levi is underway. We plan to commence the meeting on Monday 30th with registration and refreshments from 09:30 with the first oral sessions beginning at 10:30.

The conference is free-of-charge! Also, lunches and conference dinner is free for the registered participants.

Details of session topics will depend on the participating projects and will be provided with the schedule after the closing date for Abstracts (the 1st of September 2023).

We hope that you will join us for this exciting event and look forward to welcoming you in Rovaniemi in October!

Vesa Nykänen and Juha Kaija — Geologian Tutkimuskeskus (GTK), Finland Nick Cook — Sustainable Minerals Institute, University of Queensland, Australia