Jurisdiction spotlight: Finland’s glowing critical mineral opportunity
Click to View Jurisdiction spotlight: Finland’s glowing critical mineral opportunity
Source: Stockhead
- Finland is throwing financial muscle behind critical mineral projects
- A bunch of ASX explorers are hunting for resources in the country, looking to bolster the nation’s homegrown supply
- Latitude 66, which has a scoping study underway, is one of them
Amid heated discussions on critical mineral deals, focus is now shifting to EU nations capable of strengthening the region’s mining, processing and recycling independence. Just like the rest of the world, Europe is throwing financial muscle behind critical minerals projects in the hopes it can work its way out of the control of a belligerent competing power.
Overwhelmingly, China is the main hub for critical mineral processing and refining globally, refining about 68% of the world’s nickel, 40% of copper, 59% of lithium and 73% of cobalt.
But one Northern European country is quickly emerging as a key contender in the critical minerals processing space and is already the largest miner and refiner of cobalt in Europe and the second largest cobalt refiner worldwide.
Finland, home to Europe’s three largest cobalt refineries, has a significant role to play when it comes to EU cobalt supply.
Cobalt was classified as a critical raw material by the EU in 2010 and subsequently included in the first list of strategic raw materials in 2023 owing to its high importance to the EU economy, technology and low-carbon future.
The Finnish government, a strong supporter of the mining sector, helped pull together a new minerals strategy at the end of last year, focusing on streamlining permitting processes and increasing financial support for projects advancing the green transition.
And luckily for the EU, who is hungry to mine, there’s a bunch of explorers and mine developers looking to feed into its domestic supply chain.
