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SompioMining
41
The possibilities in the Northern Finland
for an International Mining Company
I
n short there are a great many oppor-
tunities in northern Finland. Anglo
American is one of the world’s largest
diversified mining companies with a
global footprint. Granted much of it is
in the Southern hemisphere, however
we also have a number of activities in the
North, in its broadest sense, ranging from
projects and operations across Canada and
of course here in the Finland.
In the mining exploration business we are
constantly evaluating our portfolio and loo-
king to ensure we are spending our dollars
in the right place and on the right projects.
There are three ways for exploration to cre-
ate value for our company; we can realise
additional value from old project that were
previously considered too small or marginal;
we add new resources to existing operations
and extend their life of mine or we can either
find something new.
And it’s when we’re looking at these new
opportunities we have to constantly balan-
ce risk and prospectively. By this we mean
that all around the world there are some
phenomenal geological formations which
mining companies would like to have access
to, however, as we know geopolitical situa-
tions are usually more dynamic than geology
and often some of these key mineral depo-
sits are located in areas that are very diffi-
cult to develop. This could be for a number
of reasons; the local political regime is not
open to foreign companies; there is a weak
rule of law; there are complex security issu-
es where we would not send our people for
safety reasons; the local tax regime is such
that it would make any project uneconomic
for our shareholders or, in the case of our
bulk commodities, the need to build additio-
nal infrastructure can be cost prohibitive.
Geologists are notoriously optimistic and
we often believe that if we find the rocks we
can develop a mine. This may have been the
case previously, however, the world today is
a very different place and there are so many
more variables that can make or break an
exploration project; all of which we need
to be aware of when deciding where to in-
vest, especially in the current economically
constrained environment.
Given all this, the most desirable destina-
tions for our investment dollars are count-
ries or regions which; have high geological
prospectively, stable government and tran-
sparent regulatory regimes, fair and stable
fiscal / tax system, skilled workforce, access
to infrastructure (this being roads, rail, po-
wer, water etc.) and a desire by the local
government and community to support res-
ponsible mineral development.
These are all attributes present in the
Fennoscandian region, couple that with a
strong mining heritage and world class mi-
ning equipment and service providers and
you have a region with ample opportunities
many of which stand a good chance of being
developed. The Fraser institute rating this
year for Finland was number one for policy
environment for mining and number 2 in
their mineral potential index. In terms of
prospectively, Fennoscandia has a wealth
of commodities that would be of interests
to most majors and juniors including cop-
per, platinum, cobalt, gold, nickel, diamonds
and iron ore amongst others. Many of these
are also part of the EU Raw Materials Initia-
tive looking at securing domestic European
supply of key metals and minerals the EU
needs to stay competitive. There is no doubt
that Fennoscandia will be playing an increa-
singly important role in this initiative.
For Anglo American, we believe in the
wealth of opportunities here in northern Fin-
land. We have been exploring in the area for
the past decade and we were very fortuna-
te to make the Sakatti discovery which we
hope will become part of Lapland’s mining
heritage. We fully appreciate that Sakatti
would not have been discovered without the
great data generated by the GTK and wor-
king with our local drilling contractor Katti
AB, to develop a cutting edge drilling system
which has significantly reduced our environ-
mental footprint. And now as we go forward
we hope to be working with other world class
mining service providers from Finland such
as Outotec.
But we also understand the importance
of ensuing that any opportunity is developed
responsibly and respectfully within the host
community. There are a number of opera-
tions operating here that are testimony that
this approach is possible for example; Kita-
la, Kemi and Kiruna, and we are very much
committed to ensuring that we take this ap-
proach with the Sakatti project.
With so many opportunities we are also
mindful that there needs to be responsible
development, where companies are aware
of the overall cumulative impacts of such
operations or project and companies work
together with each other, local and national
government and the local communities to
ensure any impacts are managed and local
services and infrastructure is able to sup-
port development.
We are looking forward to being part of
realising one of Lapland’s opportunities’
and doing it responsibly in collaboration
with the people of Lapland and Finland and
hope others will follow the standards alrea-
dy set to ensure future opportunities are
developed to not only create value for the
region but also in a way that respects other
traditional land users and cultural heritage.
ANGLO AMERICAN
Pioneer in
mine construction
yit.fi
yitgroup.com