Business Finland launched a zero waste mining and critical minerals campaign

According to estimates, the global market for technologies and solutions related to the processing of mining industry side streams amounts to more than EUR 10 billion. Finland is a major supplier of critical raw materials (cobalt, platinum, palladium, nickel, and lithium) in the EU.

“The market for increasingly scarce raw materials poses new threats. For example, the defense industry needs critical raw materials. All this is strategically significant for Finland, as Finland along with the rest of Europe is dependent on external suppliers, and the aim is to reduce supply risks,” says Lassi Noponen, Director General of Business Finland. 

Minerals are needed in our increasingly digital and electrified society and the defense industry, for example. Finland and the rest of Europe are dependent on importing materials: the majority of rare earths are imported to Europe from China.

Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, as well as the impact of the preceding coronavirus pandemic on global supply chains, have highlighted the vulnerability of raw material supply chains. Business Finland aims to contribute to securing the supply and availability of raw materials in rapidly changing situations.

The new campaign is targeted at the entire value chain of the mining and minerals sector, with a special focus on Finnish SMEs. 

“In order to improve the availability of raw materials, companies and research organizations should come up with solutions that make existing mining operations more efficient. This would also reduce the generation of side and waste streams and the negative environmental impacts of mines. Sustainable mining is key to ensuring environmental and human safety and improving the social acceptability of mines,” says Satu Penttinen.  

According to Penttinen, Business Finland’s Zero Waste Mining and Critical Minerals campaign focuses on solutions to improve the efficiency of mineral recovery and recycling from side and waste streams. Circular economy helps to secure sufficient availability of minerals and raw materials in the future.

“Finnish companies are pioneers in mining equipment, machinery, and technologies. Together with the other EU countries, Finland should seize completely new business opportunities in the growing market,” says Penttinen.  

Fact box

According to the study “Competitiveness and productivity of the Finnish mineral cluster” (2020), the mineral cluster generates a total of approximately EUR 7.4 billion in new value added. Of this, direct value added amounts to approximately EUR 2.9 billion (39%). The direct gross domestic product (GDP) generated by the mineral cluster was approximately 1.4% of the total GDP of Finland. The total impact on employment of the mineral cluster is 87,400 person-years, the direct employment being approximately 24,600 person-years. The mineral cluster consists of mining and quarrying, manufacture of basic metals, as well as manufacture of machinery for mining, quarrying, and construction. 

The mining and minerals sector campaign is based on the EU Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA) and Finland’s national mineral strategy, according to which Finland, along with the rest of Europe, aims to improve the security of supply of critical minerals.