Hafren Scientific Group (Hafren) are delighted to have recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Geological Survey of Finland (GTK). This will enable both parties to work collaboratively on applied geoscience research, consultation, education, & training, in the general area of battery minerals, metals, materials and manufactured components.
GTK is a leading European competence centre on the assessment and sustainable use of geological resources. Since 1885, the Survey, has been responsible for the mapping, documentation, and archiving of geological information, during which time several world class ore deposits were discovered, and some are now operational mines.
Hafren is a group of companies spearheading research and development of innovative technologies in geological services and the acquisition of elemental and mineralogical data for a wide range of industries, including the energy, mineral extraction, and environmental sectors.
Finland’s unique current focus on battery minerals and its buoyant exploration and mining industry, combined with an ambitious target to be the first EU country to be carbon neutral (or even negative) by 2035, provides an unrivalled opportunity to perform novel research on a range of mineral deposits, including strategic battery commodities such as graphite, nickel, cobalt, copper, PGE, tin, tungsten, gold, silver, and lithium, to name a few.
Hafren recently worked closely with GTK on the BATCircle project – a 20+ M€ Business Finland initiative involving research into the circular economy of battery minerals & metals – the key objective of which was to find ways of adding value to the battery metals ecosystem.
Hafren and GTK realised a strong synergy during the BATCircle project and are now looking to explore further opportunities under this MoU, including developing new workflows to better characterise battery minerals & materials, and the creation of new geomaterial service products.
Researching aspects of the Circular Economy of battery minerals will be explored, including the re-mining approach, which will involve international collaboration on all aspects of the Battery Value Chain, from discovery, all the way to mining, through refining, to manufacture, and finally recycling.
