Development of mineral sector cooperation in Eastern and Northern Finland

On a global level, clean transition, energy transition and electrification of transport, among other things, require a lot of strategic or critical raw materials. In Europe, too, the importance of increasing the self-sufficiency of raw material production has come to light in order to secure the operating conditions of industry supporting the green transition.

For promoting the sustainable use of raw materials in Eastern and Northern Finland, it has been decided to intensify cooperation between regional, national and international actors.

In the regional level, the development of the mineral industry is carried out by the regional Mining Hubs. Nationally, it will be significant in Finland during 2024 to develop a new mineral strategy to promote the growth of the mineral and battery cluster in order to enable a clean and digital transition. The aim of the new strategy is to produce a common view of the current situation of the Finnish mineral cluster, policy objectives, main lines and necessary measures, including the development of a circular economy. At the European level the new Critical Raw Materials Act aims to ensure the EU's access to a secure, diversified, affordable and sustainable supply of critical raw materials and also strengthening Europe's strategic autonomy.

Between the actors of regional, national and EU level, the R&I and training organisations play a key role in developing cooperation. In the Eastern and Northern Finland region, the Geological Survey of Finland, the University of Oulu, Kajaani University of Applied Sciences and The Federation of Education in Central Ostrobothnia have decided to join forces to enable this collaboration. A special tool for this is the JTF project “Development of the mining sector in Lapland, Northern Ostrobothnia, Kainuu and Central Ostrobothnia” (KAKE).  The planned measures include e.g. international networking, competence development, workshops, innovating new R&I projects and linking companies to project activities.