Speakers

Speakers for the conference are regularly updated on this page.

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.

Madalina Ivanica

Deputy Head of Raw Materials, DG GROW

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.

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

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.

Rare metals and great power rivalry

Confrontation between revanchist authoritarian powers and the West have made geopolitical considerations essential. With a tech arms race underway there is a risk of competition for strategic resources, such as rare metals. This has consequences for small and medium sized countries as well as international businesses.

Niklas H. Rossbach

Deputy research director at the Swedish defence research agency (FOI)

Niklas H. Rossbach, PhD. is a Deputy research director at the Swedish defence research agency (FOI) where he works on strategic resources, energy security and foresight in relation to international security.

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.

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.

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.

Mahvie Minerals poised for rapid development

Since the Company began in 2022, Mahvie Minerals have made headway in developing the two main assets of the Company, the base metal project in Mo I Rana in Norway and the gold project Haveri in Finland. Lately, substantial modelling has been carried out as well as some initial drilling in order to verify the models. So far, everything seem to be in-line with expectations. In Finland, the Company received a prolongations of the exploration permit at Haveri and has started exploration and mine development efforts in earnest. In Haveri, the focus is on the higher grade portions of the deposit thus increasing profitability while slightly decreasing the possible mined area.

Per Storm

CEO of Mahvie Minerals AB (publ.)

Per Storm is the CEO of Mahvie Minerals AB (publ.). He has previously been CEO of Copperstone Resources, EIT RawMaterials North AB (an European raw materials funding agency), Raw Materials Group RMG AB and has been involved as a board member and chairman of the board in several junior mining companies. He holds a PhD in Industrial Engineering and is a Docent in the Innovation processes of the Mining and Steel Industry, both from KTH. Per Storm is a fellow of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences as well as several professional organizations.

The role of infrastructure in decarbonizing the steel industry

H2GS has the mission to decarbonise hard-to-abate industries and is building its first steel plant in Boden in Northern Sweden. In Boden, H2GS will produce 5 million tonnes of steel by 2030 with a 95% lower CO2 footprint compared to traditional steelmaking. Infrastructure is at the core of the business, and one of the important reasons for choosing Boden as home.

Luisa Orre

Chief Procurement Officer of H2 Green Steel

Covering electricity, raw materials, logistics and project procurement, as well as infrastructure related to power, rail and port. Luisa was previously the CFO of a consumer technology start up and as well as a management consultant at McKinsey & Co. working globally with corporate and growth strategy across several industries. Luisa holds a Master of Science in Economics and Business Administration from the Stockholm School of Economics.

Sustainable raw materials value chains in the EU CRM Act

At LKAB we are working on new, innovative and circular ways to extract and produce critical minerals from today’s mine waste. LKAB plans to extract phosphorus for mineral fertiliser and rare earth elements, which are critical for sustainable agriculture and the green transition. This will further connect our mines in Sweden to industries across Europe and make an important contribution to Swedish and European security and resilience.

David Högnelid

Chief Strategy Officer, Business Area Special Products at LKAB

David Högnelid is a communications, sustainability, and business development executive that thrives in the cross section of disciplines to develop new opportunities. He believes the mining and minerals industry presents unrivalled opportunities to deliver value for society, environment, communities, and shareholders alike. A key focus of his is to support the realisation of LKAB’s ReeMAP-project for production of phosphorus and REE from mine tailings.

Scaling Up Rare Earth Element Pre-Concentration: Pilot Plant Success at IVL

Johan Strandberg will provide a comprehensive look at the establishment and operation of a pilot plant for the pre-concentration of rare earth elements (REEs) using liquid membrane technology. With a focus on the practical execution of this project, the presentation will explore the innovative use of hollow fiber supported liquid membrane (HFSLM) technology, which has been tested for REE concentrations in a range that demonstrates the plant’s robust capability. This session will showcase the operational do’s and don’ts, the HFSLM’s unique features, and the plant’s potential to influence global practices in REE extraction outside the dominant realm of Chinese expertise.

Johan Strandberg

Senior Researcher

Johan Strandberg is a leading figure in the field of environmental science, with a pioneering role in the development of technologies for the extraction and separation of rare earth elements (REE). Spearheading the Mistra Terra Clean program, Johan has been instrumental in advancing smart filter technologies, and facilitating industry-research collaboration. With a keen focus on sustainability and industry application, Johan has a history of driving innovation within the environmental sector. As a project leader, Johan has directed significant initiatives aimed at integrating digital solutions into resource management, notably in waterworks and climate resilience projects. In the international arena, Johan has contributed to setting guidelines on water sanitation and management through leading roles with the World Health Organization (WHO). These contributions have been part of a broader commitment to sustainable practices in environmental science.

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.

Børge Edvardsen Klingan

CEO, Port of Narvik

Works as CEO at Narvik Havn KF. Børge has a master’s degree in engineering from NTH/NTNU in Trondheim and a degree in business administration from BI in Oslo. He has extensive experience in management and business development related to the green shift, including renewable energy and logistics.

EU and NATO requirements on resilience and NATO operational planning – Potential consequences for critical infrastructure

EU and NATO require member states to be resilient against natural disasters, terrorist attacks, and different forms of warfare. These requirements have implications for supply chains and critical infrastructure as they involve a shift of paradigm, from efficiency thinking to resiliency thinking. In addition, the expansion of NATO will change operational planning on the northern flank. The exact nature of these plans remains unknown, but they will require that the traditional focus on north to south in the Nordic countries is complemented with a new focus on west to east. This means that supply chains and critical infrastructure must be able to support reception, staging and onwards movement of military units, as well as the continuous sustainment of forces.

Dr Thomas Ekström

Senior lecturer in War Studies at the Swedish Defence University

Dr Thomas Ekström has worked with defence capability development the past three decades, primarily in the area of military logistics. After 25 years at the Swedish Defence Research Agency, he is currently a senior lecturer in War Studies at the Swedish Defence University. His research is focused on robustness and resilience in defence supply chains, including their dependency on commercial supply chains and functioning critical infrastructure.

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.

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

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.

Mineral demand 2050, a story of economic development in the global South

Iron, Copper, & Nickel demand in 2050 is driven by economic development in lower income economies of the global south. A new World Bank study discusses the development of demand of the three most important metals in terms of building societies and creating economic wealth. Through an analysis linking historical demand to societal building a scenario of future demand has been established.

Anton Löf

Co-founder of RMG-Consulting (RMG), Stockholm, Sweden

Anton has since the early 2000 worked as a consultant in the mining industry. He is co-founder of RMG-Consulting (RMG), Stockholm Sweden, established in 2016 which builds on the work of Raw Materials Group.

Anton has worked with various divisions of international organisations such as UNCTAD, World Steel Association, the World Bank, United Nations University and International Seabed Authority. Furthermore, he has worked with government institutions in the Nordic region and Africa as well as mining and exploration companies, equipment suppliers and financial institutions.

A regular speaker at both China Mining, China Int’l Steel & Raw Materials as well as Fast Markets iron ore events. He regular publishes articles on the mining industry for various trade magazines as well as the academic press.

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.

Elisabeth Sinclair

Project leader, The North Bothnia Line Group

Gusten Granström

CEO, Norrbotniabanan AB