Sakatti
Finland
North
Sakatti is a copper-nickel-platinum group elements deposit in the far north of Finland, situated around 150 kilometers north of the Arctic Circle. It is owned by Anglo American.
Civil society
The results of INFACT will benefit the wider European society, whether in a form of environmentally friendly and socially acceptable exploration techniques or in a form of rising mineral resources security. Engaging society on all levels, horizontally and vertically, is the key issue for INFACT.
Activities/current status:
The project has several goals regarding the wider societal context. Activities in each region plays a part in this. 1) Developing a common understanding of good social and environmental practices and methodology that subsequently are to become standard across the entire EU. 2) Examining the barriers to exploration and designing a roadmap to improved exploration conditions. 3) Analyzing the environmental impact and social acceptability conditions related to exploration tools and practices. The aim is to reach a view of sustainable exploration practices shared by civil society, state and industry.
Legislation & Policy
Assessing the legal and legislative frames within European countries in the field of the exploration, including existing or potential obstacles, and finding the best practices and policies. It will provide a practical and acceptable roadmap towards a Europe that presents a more attractive investment target for the exploration industry, which will improve systems that affect exploration conditions in Europe.
Activities/current status:
Assessment of legal and legislative frames in Finland has been started as a part of the larger literature analysis.
Industry & Business
INFACT targets the conditions that limit the effectiveness of the exploration industry and development of innovative non-invasive exploration tools that will pave the path to better, more effective, environmentally friendly, and publicly acceptable approaches to mining in Europe.
Activities/current status:
Cooperating with Anglo American Sakatti Mining Oy.
Currently establishing a shared vision with the local industry partner for the projects stakeholder engagement practices.
Research & Education
With the aim to achieve the cutting-edge exploration approach, top researchers and experts are engaged in the project. A special attention is given to identifying the right education-related mechanisms for addressing various stakeholder groups. Academic participation in INFACT assures its credibility and unbiased approach.
Activities/current status:
The Oulu Mining School of the University of Oulu (established August 1st, 2014) aims to integrate scientific disciplines along the value chain from exploration to mining and mineral processing. Participating of the OMS in the INFACT project is important for the development of new educational programs (MSc and PhD level) that take into account the best present-day and future innovative exploration technologies and for education of new generation of specialists in exploration.
As a part of the project activities, INFACT participants from Oulu Mining School are collecting and analyzing existing open-access geophysical and geological data about northern reference region (Sakatti/Finland). The analysis and integration of the data will be made using the mineral system paradigm and results will be published in open access peer-reviewed scientific journal. This would attract attention of large scientific and academic community to the INFACT project and its result.
Participation in INFACT project activities is a part of PhD education and post-doc training of two young researchers at Oulu Mining School.
Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE) and University of Eastern Finland (UEF) investigate knowledge, perception and opinion of the public about exploration and mining.
Current activities include planning and framing the various upcoming research tasks: defining citizen survey questions; framing the scope of the media research; analyzing the current land use, planning the workshops and interviews; and working on literature analysis. Preliminary searches of the Finnish media coverage of mining exploration activities and techniques based on various newspapers are conducted.
Dialogue & Inclusion
INFACT is based on nurturing a strong stakeholder dialog and communication throughout the project and beyond it. It aims at achieving a SLO (social licence to operate) for novel exploration techniques and consequentially their wide acceptance.
Activities/current status:
Mapping and establishing communications with all the relevant stakeholders at the reference site. The project will conduct series of interviews with local and regional decision makers and public authorities, reference site workshops and citizen interviews which will provide feedback and ideas for continuing collaboration.
Currently established and sustaining communications with the local stakeholders and planning for public information event.
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement nº 776487.