Speakers – day 1

Speakers for day 1 of the conference – January 29

For speakers on day 2 of the conference – click here »

Lisa Ek

Partner and Managing Director of Nordic Strategy Partners | Board Director Lunova AB, Nordic Quick Systems, Ditwin AB, Noah – Lokal Mat, Luleå Näringsliv

Lisa Ek isa an experienced management consultant with a demonstrated history of working with growth, investments and innovation. Strong business development professional with a Master of Science focused in Industrial Engineering and Management from Tekniska högskolan vid Linköpings universitet.

Government address to the conference

Ebba Busch

Minister for Energy, Business and Industry and Deputy Prime Minister

Madalina Ivanica

Deputy Head of Raw Materials, DG GROW

Madalina Ivanica is Deputy Head of Unit in the European Commission – Unit on Energy Intensive Industries, Raw Materials and Hydrogen of the Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs since January 2022. She previously worked in the Directorate-General for Environment in the area of enlargement and accession negotiations and EU inter-institutional relations. Ms. Ivanica served also as Advisor to the Romanian Chief Negotiator for accession to the European Union and was Director of Studies and an Associate Professor in European Studies at the Maastricht University. Ms. Ivanica received a Ph.D. in economics and holds a B.Sc. (Honours) in Psychology.

Annelie Wirtén

Director General Geological Survey of Sweden

Anneli Wirtén is General Director of SGU – the Geological Survey of Sweden – since March 2020. Anneli has an Degree in Law and was from 2011 Deputy Governor and acting Governor in Jönköping County. She has earlier been Programme Director within the EU Structural Funds. SGU is responsible for issues relating to rock, soil and groundwater, including the handling of minerals. SGU is also the Agency with particular responsibility for the environmental quality objective Good-quality Groundwater, which includes the objective of reducing the use of natural gas. The Agency also has the task of creating conditions conducive to a sustainable use of the country’s mineral resources and promoting sustainable growth and enterprise within the mining and mineral sector.

Reactions and possible consequences of CRM Act in Nordic countries

EU is deciding on Critical Raw Material Act to improve the security of supply of critical and strategic raw materials. The target is to increase own mineral production, build effective circular economy of these materials and diversify the sources of import by building material partnerships with third countries. What kind of reactions the CRM Act has raised in public and within policy makers? What kind of consequences we possibly will see in Nordic countries in coming years?

Kimmo Tiilikainen

Director General GTK Geological Survey of Finland

Mr Tiilikainen has served as a Member of Parliament for 16 years, held several ministerial positions, and in the last couple of years, he was State Secretary in several ministries and was one of the EU’s Ministerial Negotiators of the Paris Agreement and signed it on behalf of Finland in 2016. As Finland’s Minister of Energy, he implemented Finnish climate policy by promoting both renewable energy and a ban on the use of coal.

Strengthening the supply chain for the European battery industry – a prerequisite for Europe’s competitiveness

The European Battery Alliance has in just a few years turned Europe into a hotspot for investments along the entire battery value chain; rapidly closing the investment gap with its major Asian competitors. The growing demand for batteries will in turn affect the demand for battery materials. Forecasts show a 80% market share for EVs in Europe by 2030. At the same time, the EU is dependent on importing more than 80% of the necessary battery materials making the supply chain for the battery industry vulnerable. Secure access to the supply chains for batteries raw materials is therefore an important part to avoid bottlenecks in the battery value chain, maintain the competitiveness of the European industry and at the same time build strategic autonomy by reducing dependencies in the supply chain. Is Europe’s approach sufficient to reach those ambitions?

Ilka von Dalwigk

EBA Policy Manager at EIT Innoenergy

Ilka von Dalwigk works as Policy Manager at EIT Innoenergy with the industrial development programme of the EBA with a strong focus on sustainability and supply chain topics. She has been instrumental in building up and managing the vast and complex network of the stakeholders in this initiative, as well as developing the set of initial recommendations that contributed to the design and content of the 43 actions that have been identified as necessary by the European Battery Alliance, to make the EU a key player in the global battery market. Today she is leading the work in updating those recommendations to sustain the global leadership of the European battery industry in the face of the Inflation Reduction Act and other recent challenges.

Towards Sustainable Mining: A global standard for responsible mining

Minerals and metals are essential to modern society, critical technologies, and the infrastructure required to support the global energy transition. Yet, there are significant environmental and social risks associated with mining activities. Towards Sustainable Mining (TSM) is a sustainability program implemented by over 200 companies around the globe to manage these risks while meeting society’s needs for minerals, metals, and energy products. Established nearly twenty years ago, TSM was the first responsible mining standard in the world to require site-level assessments with external verification. Through TSM, mine sites develop comprehensive sustainability management systems and report annually on key indicators of performance in areas like climate change, Indigenous and community relationships, and biodiversity conservation management.

Katherine Gosselin

Director, Towards Sustainable Mining, The Mining Association of Canada

Katherine manages implementation of the TSM program in Canada and supports adoption of the program by mining associations around the world. Previously, she worked for the Government of Canada where she collaborated with Latin American governments to promote sustainable mining practices, provided advice in support of North American trade negotiations, and was responsible for Canada’s international collaboration and policy development related to critical minerals trade and investment. She holds an MSc in Global Politics from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Opportunities and challenges for exploration and mining in Sweden

Maria Sunér

CEO, Svemin

Ms. Maria Sunér is since 2019 the CEO of Svemin, the Swedish Association for Mines, Mineral and Metal Producers. Ms Sunér has a profound background from the business and energy sectors, and has held several positions at the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise, as well as for the Swedish Association of Energy producers. She has also worked for the Worldbank and the energy company Eon. Ms Sunér holds a M.Sc. in Chemical engineering, is a honorary member of the Swedish Royal Academy of Engineering, vice chair of EIT RawMaterials as well as member of the Executive Committee of Euromines.

Permitting processes and mining in Sweden – an international comparison

In the EU, we need to source more of our minerals domestically. In Sweden, we have the geology and the mining expertise to meaningfully contribute to this change. But do we have the permitting processes in place to ensure that this can happen, and in a way that contributes to the longer term wise extraction and use of minerals? The permitting processes for mineral projects in Sweden has been the subject of much debate, and in this session, Dr Tarras-Wahlberg will explain how these processes differ from those found in other important mining countries, and also weigh in on to what extent reform may be relevant and/or needed.

Håkan Tarras-Wahlberg

Senior consultant with Swedish Geological AB, and Team Leader for the planetGOLD Bolivia project

Håkan has had a long and multidisciplinary career within the mineral and natural resource sector, working extensively internationally as well as in Sweden. He holds undergraduate degrees in Geology and Ocean and Atmosphere sciences (Cape Town), Masters degrees in Law (Dundee), and Environment and development (Cambridge), as well as a PhD in Geography (Cambridge).

Stefan Romedahl

President Boliden Mines

Stefan Romedahl, born 1967, is the President of Boliden Mining Division since 2018 and reporting to CEO. The current position is the third time in Boliden since 1994. He is a member of the board in SveMin and GAF, the Swedish Branch organisation for mining. Stefan is a member of the Steering Committee in Euromines since 2018.

Before joining Boliden, Stefan held a position in LKAB Group Management as Director of Production North (Kiruna). Among other positions he has been the project Director for the Swedish Nuclear Waste Repository (SKB) and the Managing Director of Zinkgruvan AB (Lundin Mining)

Mr. Romedahl holds a Mining Engineer, M.Sc. in Geotechnology.

Mining investment risk: Where Scandinavia sits in the global rankings

Mining Journal Intelligence’s World Risk Report provides a comprehensive assessment of mining investment risk, with more than 120 jurisdictions rated in the recent 2023 edition. Based on 11 ‘hard risk’ metrics and 600+ survey responses, the report shows how Scandinavia compares to its rivals and the region’s core strengths and areas for improvement.

Sam Williams

Editor, Mining Journal Intelligence

Sam joined Mining Journal publisher Aspermont in 2022 as editor of Mining Journal Intelligence, which produces research reports on global mining risk, top mining projects, financial data, and insights from industry leaders and investors. Prior to his current role, Sam worked as a journalist for 17 years, including 10 years reporting on the mining industry from Mexico and the UK.

Exploration in Sweden; the legal framework and the importance of being a good neighbor

The Minerals Act stipulates rights and obligations of those who engage in exploration work in Sweden and the Mining Inspectorate issues permits and resolves conflicts withing this framework. However, prospectors may also need permits according to other regulations and, more importantly, must engage in community outreach to succeed. What to expect: An overview of the legal framework plus tips and pointers from the Chief Mining Inspector.

Helena Kjellson

Chief Mining Inspector, the Mining Inspectorate of Sweden

Helena Kjellson is the newly appointed Chief Mining Inspector and heads the Mining Inspectorate of Sweden. The Mining Inspectorate has its main office in Luleå in northern Sweden and issues exploration permits, exploitation concessions and land designations amongst other things. She holds a master’s degree in law and started her career in the Swedish court system. She has spent the last 15 years at the Geological Survey of Sweden as a legal adviser and at managerial positions within the field of hydrogeology and remediation.

The Nordic bedrock potential for critical metals and minerals

Sweden and the other Nordic countries that comprise large volumes of crystalline bedrock have all experienced a long and varied geological evolution that led to the formation of diverse mineral resources, including a broad suite containing the metals and minerals presently classified as critical within the EU. The Nordic bedrock contains many variably well known deposits of these metals and minerals and the potential for new discoveries must be considered large.

Erik Jonsson

Senior geologist at SGU, the Geological Survey of Sweden, and adjunct professor of mineralogy at Uppsala University

Erik Jonsson, senior geologist at SGU, the Geological Survey of Sweden, and adjunct professor of mineralogy at Uppsala University. Erik works in different projects focused on mineral resources, their character and origin, with a focus on critical metals and minerals. He has over 30 years of experience working with minerals and bedrock geology in both the field and laboratory and has a PhD from Stockholm University. The mineral erikjonssonite was named after him in 2018.

ESG-adjusted investment calculation for the mining industry

The project aims to develop a new financial decision model for the mining industry, that incorporates ESG [environmental, social, governance] factors in a comparable way to project direct costs and revenues, e.g to assign real monetary values to -traditionally considered- soft factors. With a new model, the industry can both show that ESG factors have a real impact on investment and project decisions, but also that by considering these factors new types of financially relevant short- and long-term risks and opportunities will be included, and hence improve overall financial performance.

Niklas Grönberg

Founder and CEO, Nordic Strategy Partners

Niklas Grönberg is the founder and CEO of Nordic Strategy Partners, a management consulting firm based in northern Sweden that supports industrial clients with their most important challenges.

Funding Exploration Projects

* Introduction to the EMX business model and how we survive in even tough market conditions.
* Overview on how our partners commonly get financed, with a Canadian and Australian regulatory perspective, which could improve the investment landscape in Sweden if the same or similar regulations would be implemented.
* Why Sweden is a good place to work anyways. Cost overview of working in Sweden

Johannes Holzäpfel

Exploration Manager – Europe, EMX Royalty Corp./EMX Scandinavia AB

Mr. Holzäpfel has over 12 years of experience in the mineral exploration industry. He worked in copper and gold exploration in Indonesia and Mongolia. In the DRC Mr. Holzäpfel lead an exploration team of Ivanhoe Mines in search for copper and other base-metals in the Central-African-Copper-Belt. He also worked with Boliden in Sweden exploring for base metals in the prolific Bergslagen district. In 2011, Mr. Holzäpfel graduated with a Master’s degree in Economic Geology from the Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, Germany

How to secure a predictable mine opening

Continuous financing and building the organization throughout exploration and feasibility studies The road to a reopening of Viscaria copper mine.

Jörgen Olsson

CEO of Copperstone Resources

Jörgen, the former chairman, now serves as the CEO of Copperstone Resources. This new Swedish junior mining company is dedicated to reopening the Viscaria copper mine in Kiruna. Jörgen has an extensive track record in building corporate culture, financing, and driving profitable growth. For instance, he previously held the positions of chairman and CEO at Hoist Finance, a company with approximately 1,700 employees.

Smart Exploration Research Centre: knowledge and innovation inspiring 21st century mineral explorationists

Mineral exploration in the 21st century requires a mindset change educating skilled and innovative explorationists comfortable with risks and thinking outside the box and ahead of the curve. In a synergetic work, the mineral exploration industry must constantly develop new tech solutions to enable responsible, socially acceptable, resilient, and sustainable supply of critical raw materials. These commodities are required for a smooth energy transition and to meet the climate targets. Sweden and in general Nordic countries have suitable geology and tech-solution providers to address these challenges. Led by Uppsala University, the Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research (SSF) has granted funding (2024-2029) for a multidisciplinary research centre to conduct basic and innovative research of high international significance on critical raw materials.

Alireza Malehmir

Professor of Applied Geophysics at Uppsala University, Sweden

Alireza Malehmir has BSc-MSc degrees in mining engineering-exploration and PhD in exploration geophysics. He is a Professor of Applied Geophysics at Uppsala University-Sweden. He was the PI of the award-winning H2020 Smart Exploration project and is a co-PI of FUTURE, a European-South African tech-type mineral exploration collaborative project. He is the research director of the Smart Exploration Research centre (for 2024-2029). He has (co)authored +140 peer-reviewed journal publications and is incoming editor-in-chief of Geophysical Prospecting. He sits on several nordic national funding bodies as an expert panellist and acts as an adviser for large R&D projects globally. He is the founder of Nordic Geophysics start-up company and holder a number of patents and trademarks.

Next generation sustainable intelligent mining systems for a paradigm shift in mine production

NEXGEN SIMS is an international consortium of mining companies, equipment and system manufacturers and universities. The project is coordinated by mining equipment and service supplier Epiroc and the including project partners consist of mining companies Boliden, Agnico Eagle Finland, KGHM Polska, K+S and OZ Minerals; services and system suppliers Ericsson, Mobilaris MCE, AFRY, Combitech and KGHM Cuprum; business developer LTU Business and universities Luleå University of Technology and RWTH Aachen University – all based in Europe, except for OZ Minerals which is based in Australia.
The key aspect of the project is to develop autonomous carbon neutral mining processes. This includes the use of battery-electric mining equipment, full utilization of 5G for optimal connectivity and positioning, autonomous material handling, AI powered traffic and fleet control and collaboration among machines. Also focusing on the mine worker of the future – ‘the modern miner’ -and safety, for example by developing autonomous mine inspection technology.

Jan Gustafsson

Senior Project Manager, Strategical Projects, and Alliances. UR&D Technology development

Over 20 years’ experience from managing development projects within R&D. Both as engineering responsible, project manager and R&D group manager. The last 17 years working for Epiroc and product development of mining equipment. Coordinator for the NEXGEN SIMS consortium and Managerial background in different areas.

Best practice in rail freight

The low-hanging fruits for improved sustainability on rail

Fredrik Kangas

Managing Director, Kiruna Wagon

Fredrik Kangas has been the managing director for the railway logistic company Kiruna Wagon, since the start 17 years ago. Kiruna Wagon, that produces railway ore wagons, have progressed from being a local company and grown into a global brand with development, production and maintenance of railway based ore transport solutions. Great performance with high demands on productivity and a challenging environment is the core of the company.

Made in Europe/Sweden: from mine to electric vehicle

The documentary “Made in Europe: from mine to electric vehicle” investigates the challenges faced by Europe as it attempts to set up its own, fully integrated, mine-to-EV value chain. The film acts as a wake-up call to avoid that Europe’s decarbonisation strategy leads to a nightmarish de-industrialisation, in which the European car manufacturing industry is obliterated. Instead, the documentary shows that Europe’s transition to climate neutrality can go hand in hand with a cleantech-based re-industrialisation. The film’s presenter, Peter Tom Jones, undertakes a road trip in the Nordic countries, starting at the iconic Aitik and Kiruna mines in the North of Sweden, after which he visits key locations in South Finland in search of best practices in responsible refining, battery production and EV assembly. As well as descending 1,400 m underground and interviewing various CEO’s and experts, Jones engages with a key spokesperson from the indigenous, reindeer-herding Sami people in their homeland of Sapmi, before going on to meet with local citizens in the Arctic town of Kiruna. To obtain a view from Brussels, Jones sits down with the European Commission’s Executive Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič.

Peter Tom Jones

Director of the KU Leuven Institute of Sustainable Metals and Minerals

Peter Tom Jones is the Director of the KU Leuven Institute for Sustainable Metals and Minerals (SIM²), an interdisciplinary team of 240 researchers focusing on the extraction, processing, refining and recycling of the energy-transition metals that are essential for a sustainable society. Jones has been working in this field for over 20 years, since completing his PhD in Metallurgy at KU Leuven in 2001. Jones is also the co-founder of KU Leuven’s SOLVOMET Research & Innovation Centre, a platform that provides (circular) hydrometallurgy expertise to industrial partners. Through SIM² KU Leuven and SOLVOMET, Jones has been a coordinator or partner in more than 30 EU-funded projects on sustainable metallurgy and critical raw materials. Additionally, Jones is the author of several books (e.g. Terra Incognita (2006), Klimaatcrisis (2009), Terra Reversa (2009 & 2016)…) and presenter of documentaries (e.g. Responsible mining in Europe (2022), Made in Europe: from mine to Electric Vehicle (2023)) on the transition to a climate-neutral, circular economy.

Rethinking raw materials import dependency

Bernd Schäfer

CEO, EIT RawMaterials

Bernd Schäfer has over 30 years of international business experience. Prior to joining EIT RawMaterials as CEO and Managing Director, he was CEO of apt Group, a leading European aluminium company. He was previously the Vice President Commercial, Global Commercial Transportation and Industrial at Alcoa. His area of accountability included global market responsibility as well as execution of the innovation agenda and technology roadmap. Mr. Schäfer was a long-time Board Member of the trade association of the aluminium industry and the umbrella of metal producing companies in Germany until 2020.

Jason LaTorre

Ambassador of Canada to Sweden

Jason LaTorre was appointed as Ambassador of Canada to Sweden in September 2021. Prior to his appointment, he served as Chief of Staff to Canada’s Deputy Minister of International Trade from 2019 to 2021. He holds a bachelor of commerce degree in international business from the University of Victoria (1995) and a master’s degree in international affairs from Carleton University (2000).

Swedish School of Mines and CAMM: Education & Research at LTU for the Green Transition

Swedish School of Mines combines research, education and infrastructure across the entire value chain of minerals and metals. It is an initiative to deliver the skills and competence for the whole mining and recycling value chain that the world demands through the green transition. CAMM is the Centre of Advanced Mining and Metallurgy at LTU, providing fundamental basic research for that mission.

Saeed Chehreh Chelgani

Director of Swedish School of Mines at LTU

Saeed Chehreh Chelgani, Director of Swedish School of Mines (SSM) at LTU, is within the list of the top 2% of scientists worldwide, with over 150 peer-reviewed journal publications (H-index 37). He is an Associate Professor in Mineral Processing at LTU who mainly works on upgrading critical raw materials and recycling.

Thomas Aiglsperger

Director of the Centre of Advanced Mining and Metallurgy (CAMM) at LTU

Thomas Aiglsperger is the director of the Centre of Advanced Mining and Metallurgy (CAMM) at LTU, consisting of more than 50 researchers working along the entire mining value chain. He is an Associate Professor in Applied Geochemistry at LTU and has worked on target mineralogy of critical raw materials for the last 13 years.

Securing Strategic Access to Critical Raw Materials from South-West of Norway – Attracting Necessary Investments – Challenge or Opportunity?

Developing a new critical raw material project is challenging – from obtaining the necessary technology and permits to securing finances to sustain the project. The latter is especially critical yet currently severely lacking, mainly due to the extent of the necessary funding and the remaining contempt for mining projects within the investment community. How to attract the necessary investment during the course of the project development to start a successful mineral resource company in the Nordics today? Experience of Norge Mining, a privately held mineral resource company aiming to become a responsible critical raw material supplier under the highest ESG standards from South-West of Norway for green and energy transition will be shared, focusing on the challenges to secure finances and how the company is overcoming them.

Michael Wurmser

Founder, Norge Mining Ltd.

An astute economist and entrepreneur, Michael will advise on the finances and strategic direction of Norge Mining. He’s worked for Citibank Zurich, and has held a prestigious array of senior positions at multinational financial institutions in New York and Frankfurt. He’s previously been mandated by various governments, finance ministries and state banks to help settle sovereign debts. Over the years, Michael has advised on structure financing for companies in the natural resources, commodities and mining sectors in Russia, the Middle East and Mongolia.

Deposit to Regional Scale exploration in Fennoscandia

The primary objective of the D-REx project is to improve the identification of previously unrealized endowed regions. Historically, efforts to understand mineralized systems have focused on the near surface identification and evaluation of individual resource bodies using shallow imaging techniques. The D-REx is developing a new paradigm shifting approach of large scale regional exploration in full 3-D guiding targeted investigation of near surface mineral resources. This will allow large scale regional low cost exploration to identify targeted areas with high mineral resource probability.

Maxim Smirnov

Associate Professor, Luleå University of Technology (LTU)

Chair and Coordinator of Geoelectromagnetic services within European Plate Observing System (EPOS) and Principal Investigator in Deposit to Regional Scale exploration project (D-Rex) in Fennoscandia. Maxim Smirnov has made several contributions to enhancing our understanding of the geoelectric structure of the Fennoscandian Lithosphere using electromagnetic methods. He pioneered innovative techniques for processing electromagnetic data and contributed to advancing the development and application of state of the art 3-D modelling. Over the years, he led multiple large-scale field campaigns, acquiring substantial volumes of regional-scale data applicable to mineral exploration and the search for geothermal resources. He is an Associate Professor in Applied Geophysics at LTU.

Lena Alakangas

Professor of Applied Geochemistry at the Department of Social, Environmental and Natural Resource Engineering at Luleå University of Technology, Sweden

Lena Alakangas is Professor of Applied Geochemistry at the Department of Social, Environmental and Natural Resource Engineering at Luleå University of Technology, Sweden. She is an environmental geochemist with research that focuses on the understanding of geochemical processes in natural environments and environments that have been affected by human activities such as mining. The research also includes evaluation and development of preventive methods to reduce environmental impact. She is currently head of the research subject Applied Geochemistry, which includes research in analytical chemistry, isotope geochemistry and environmental forensics, in order to trace the source of pollutants and geochemical processes. She works closely with the extractive industry and infrastructure companies.

Niklas Johansson

Senior Vice President of Communication and climate, LKAB

Niklas holds an MBA and has a broad experience from both government and industry, with previous positions including Deputy CEO and Head of Communications for a small international industrial group. Before joining LKAB he was State Secretary for the Minister for Enterprise and Innovation, and then State Secretary at Minister for Foreign Trade.

Christian Kopfer

Equity and Commodity analyst Handelsbanken

Experienced Equity Research with a demonstrated history of working in the capital markets industry. Strong operations professional skilled in Equity Research, Portfolio Management, Hedge Funds, Investment Banking, and Equities.