Newsletter March

For those of you who celebrate Easter, we hope you had a nice and relaxing few days. Time for some news from the month of March 2024!

The results from the Hautalampi bedrock research are in
In our January newsletter, we talked about borehole probing and geophysical interpretation to the next phase at our flagship project, the battery mineral mine Hautalampi. The results from that research are now in and we can announce positive results. The bedrock conditions at our Finnish Hautalampi battery minerals mine project are ideal for mining operations. The research has been carried out as an essential part and as a standard procedure of the environmental permit process to determine possible risks associated with groundwater moving in shear zones in and out of the mine and the deposit. With the analysis in hand, it can be concluded that the shear zones follow the geology of the bedrock, and no larger dominant shear zones were found, i.e., the bedrock conditions in Hautalampi are favourable for mining operations. We are proceeding with the environmental permit application.

The European Council approves the CRMA
On the 18th of March 2024, the European Council adopted the European Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA). They did this as demand for battery minerals, critical minerals and rare earth elements is expected to increase exponentially in the coming years, when the EU moves away from fossil fuels and turns to clean energy systems which need more minerals. This was the last step in the decision-making procedure for CRMA.

The goal with CRMA is to ensure a stable, transparent, and eco-friendly supply of crucial materials for the different industries in the European Union. The CRMA streamlines permit procedures for the mining industry and extraction permits should be granted in a maximum of 27 months. It sets ambitious targets for local extraction, processing, and recycling, aiming for greater self-sufficiency in Europe.

As a mining company which focus on responsible exploration and development of the battery minerals nickel, cobalt, and copper, we at Eurobattery Minerals are indeed very pleased to see the approval of this important EU regulation. The Critical Raw Materials Act was proposed by the European Commission in March 2023 and the quick approval process shows that this is a serious matter for the EU. The CRMA is good news for Eurobattery Minerals as we continue to strive for our vision: to provide responsibly mined battery minerals from Europe – for Europe.

You can read the press release from the Council about the CRMA here.

PDAC 2024 in Toronto – 27,00 participant and 1,100 exhibitors – Eurobattery Minerals on the ground
At the beginning of March, the PDAC Convention took place in Toronto, Canada and Eurobattery Minerals was part of this important platform. PDAC stands for the Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada. It is a leading organization in the mineral exploration and mining industry and the PDAC Convention serves as a premier gathering for professionals, companies, investors, government representatives, and experts from around the world involved in mineral exploration and mining. This year, PDAC was one of the largest gatherings in the association’s history.

Renowned keynote speakers such as Jakob Stausholm, CEO of Rio Tinto; Michael Stanley, Mining Lead at The World Bank; Denise Johnson, Group President of Resource Industries at Caterpillar Inc.; and Wojtek Wodzicki, leading the Lundin Group's Vicuña Exploration Team, delivered insightful speeches, which lead to interesting discussions afterwards.

Eurobattery Minerals at PDAC 2024 Eurobattery Minerals
was represented by the Managing Director of our Finnish operations, Ilari Kinnunen. Among other things, we participated in the Nordic Mining Day at PDAC 2024, focusing on exploring and exploiting the vast mineral potential in the Nordic Region. Furthermore, Ilari Kinnunen took part the Mining Finland association booth where the battery mineral project Hautalampi was presented and discussed during the PDAC Convention. In addition, a key discussed was around Europe´s capability to produce the material for not only green transition but also superalloys for defence technology, which both need critical and strategical minerals.

“The 2024 conference highlighted the unyielding optimism of the mining industry as the world is trying to move away from fossil fuels and need a lot of minerals to be able to complete the Green Transition. One key takeaway was that the battery market is booming. Alongside sourcing of critical minerals, we also discussed some of the key aspect of the mining industry of today, including the need for sustainable practices, transparency, and traceability. Very much in line with our vision at Eurobattery Minerals,” says Ilari Kinnunen, reflecting on the event.

Commodity prices – April 2023 to April 2024