WHY FINLAND?

Finland was ranked second in the world for investment attractiveness (a combination of policy and mineral potential) by the Fraser institute in 2019, and is the highest ranked European country. With an estimated turnover of EUR 1.5 billion, the Finnish mining sector is dominated by foreign owned companies.

Finland’s mining production has doubled over the last 10 years, with the increase due to several factors, including political stability, good availability of geological data and the country’s high quality infrastructure.

The Finnish mining authority is the Safety and Chemical agency, otherwise known as Tukes ₁. It is legal for any member of the population to complete limited prospecting, with more significant activity requiring an exploration licence. For any exploitation of deposits, a licence is required and is only given if a set of requirements are met. Various exploration methods are used in Finland to study the geochemical and geophysical properties of the bedrock.

Through its 100 per cent owned subsidiary Grafintec Oy, Beowulf has a portfolio of graphite exploration prospects in Finland. Grafintec is pursuing a strategy of developing a ‘resource footprint’ of natural flake graphite prospects that can provide transparent ‘security of supply’ and enable Finland to achieve its ambition of self-sufficiency in battery manufacturing.

Beowulf is also developing its knowledge in processing and manufacturing value-added graphite products, including anode material for lithium-ion batteries.

Grafintec has active mineral exploration projects in Heinävesi, Tuusniemi, Lapua and Kruunupyy. The most advanced exploration project is the Aitolampi graphite deposit located in Heinävesi, Eastern Finland. Having discovered one of Europe’s largest natural flake graphite deposits and with the establishment of the graphite anode materials plant (“GAMP”) in the GigaVaasa area, Grafintec is well positioned to support the future supply chain requirements for graphite anode material in the burgeoning lithium-ion battery sector.

WHY GRAPHITE?

Graphite is a naturally formed polymer of carbon and is the only non-metallic element that is an excellent conductor of electricity and heat. It is mostly used for refractories, in foundry facings, steel making, brake linings, pencils and in lubricants. More recently, however, the use of graphite in lithium–ion batteries have seen a surge in the global demand for graphite, in particular, for use in electric powered vehicles, mobile technology and utility storage.

Links:

¹ tukes.fi/en/industry/mining-ore-prospecting-and-gold-panning/exploration