Award committee

Mr. Moström has had an exceptional career in the Swedish mining industry. He started out as a miner in Kristineberg and returned to Boliden to work as a mining engineer after completing a mining course in Bergskolan, Filipstad. In the 1990’s, he became a successful mine manager in several mines in the Boliden Area.

In 2001, Mr. Moström was appointed as the General Manager for the Boliden Area and became President of Boliden Mines in 2005. In this position, he was the major driver behind building up a strong organization with the capacity to develop expansions and new mines. This includes the Aitik 36 expansion, the startup of the Kankberg gold-tellurium mine, and the Garpenberg 2.5 expansion. Most importantly, the mineral resources and reserves of Boliden increased significantly during this period. In 2015, Mr. Moström took on the new challenge of serving as the CEO of LKAB. Under his leadership, LKAB has returned to being a strongly profitable company.

The history of the Mineral Processing Laboratory dates back to 1942 when the Technical Research Centre of Finland (VTT) established this new facility in the recently founded Otaniemi Campus area. The laboratory educated several generations of mineral processing engineers after the war for the intensively developing domestic mining industry in Finland.

In 1988 the laboratory was relocated to new premises, custom-built for VTT in the town of Outokumpu, making it possible to undertake large-scale pilot plant studies, which at first dealt primarily with global projects managed by Outokumpu Mining. In 2004 however, the Mineral Processing Laboratory was amalgamated with the Geological Survey of Finland. During the last decade, both the personnel skills and technical capabilities have been further upgraded to satisfy the growing and diversifying needs of global mining industry and related sciences .

GTK Mintec’s fully accredited laboratory and pilot plant facilities are unique in Europe. GTK Mintec can cover the entire research chain from mineralogical, ore feed and waste characterization to pilot-scale enrichment under the same roof. The ability of GTK Mintec to respond to specific client needs and to work alongside in-house experts from client organizations is also widely acknowledged. GTK Mintec has taken part in developing mineral processing technology for nearly all mining projects and operating mines in Finland. GTK Mintec also enjoys a high reputation internationally and numerous companies working abroad have made use of its facilities. Since 1988, 1750 projects have been completed including 250 pilot-scale studies.

In addition to contract work, GTK Mintec is also active in numerous R&D projects developing environmentally friendly mineral processing in close cooperation with industry and the research community. The current R&D portfolio includes seven projects in the Tekes Green Mining Programme, which promotes more efficient processing technologies with reduced environmental impacts and the large-scale EURARE project, in which GTK Mintec carries the main responsibility for the mineral processing work package.

Mr. Walker is a British geologist and mining entrepreneur. He graduated in Mining & Exploration Geology in 1973 from the Royal School of Mines in London. As founder and CEO of Scandinavian Minerals, he acquired the Kevitsa nickel-copper-PGE deposit in 2000. Kevitsa was a GTK discovery which had lain dormant for several years. Scandinavian Minerals devoted the next 8 years to developing Kevitsa.One of the early and critical steps was the metallurgical breakthrough made by the GTK Mineral Processing laboratory. This identified a method for producing separate nickel and copper concentrates at economic levels of recovery, something that had eluded previous researchers.

Over the next 8 years, Scandinavian Minerals raised some 100 million Canadian Dollars in equity finance to develop Kevitsa. Development work included metallurgy, drilling, environmental work and feasibility studies. The company also began construction of infrastructure, including a new road and river bridge, as well as ordering processing equipment.

In 2008, Scandinavian Minerals was acquired in a friendly takeover by First Quantum Minerals for 281 million Canadian Dollars. First Quantum has continued to develop Kevitsa, which will commence production in 2012.

The second Fennoscandian Mining Award was presented to Mr. Pekka Perä, CEO of the Talvivaara Mining Company for his outstanding achievement in establishing and developing the Talvivaara Mining Company, which is assured a lasting place as a success story in the history of the Finnish – if not global – mining.

Dr. Boyd has shown exceptional dedication to the mining of mineral resources in the Arctic Region. After receiving his PhD in Aberdeen in 1972, he moved to Norway to join the Geological Survey of Norway (NGU) and to study nickel in the Råna intrusion in Northern Norway. This work proved essential to the opening of the Bruvann nickel mine in 1989.

Dr. Boyd has been responsible for the international activities of the NGU since the 1990’s. He has facilitated multiple mineral resource networks on the Fennoscandian Peninsula and in Kola, the Baltic and Africa. In 2013, he assumed responsibility for facilitating the Circum-Arctic project, with the aim of compiling information and data on mineral resources north of the 60th parallel. Through a tremendous leadership and editorial effort, Dr. Boyd managed to gather a large group of researchers and specialists from the USA, Canada, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia. Products released in 2016 include books, maps, a database and an online portal with detailed information and data on mineral resources in the Arctic. Dr. Boyd officially retired from the Geological Survey of Norway at almost the same time as the Circum-Arctic project was concluded.

Jarmo’s long and distinguished career as a mineral explorer and developer of mining projects started in the mid-1970s when he had a summer job exploring for minerals for Outokumpu in Northern Finland. After completing his studies in the early 1980s, Jarmo was immediately hired by Outokumpu and, after thorough practice in the field, he specialised in exploring for nickel ore in Southern Finland. In this role, Jarmo played an important role in developing the company’s new geological, geophysical and geochemical research methods and joint use of materials, as well as putting these methods into practice on the field.

In the late 1980s, Jarmo and his family moved to Australia on secondment for Outokumpu. Their first stop was the east coast, where Jarmo acquainted himself with the company’s mining operations at Thalanga Cu-Zn mine. After this the family moved to the west coast, where he was seconded to Outokumpu’s partner MPI Mines Ltd. In this position, Jarmo managed the evaluation of new nickel deposits in Western Australia. This work soon led to the discovery of the rich Silver Swan nickel deposit and the founding of a mine.

From the warmth of Western Australia, Jarmo and his family’s path took them next to Ontario, Canada, where he founded Outokumpu’s mineral exploration office in Timmins. The highly skilled mineral exploration team led by Jarmo worked efficiently to examine nickel deposits in the Abitibi greenstone belt and to develop the Montcalm mine project, which also was a nickel site.

At the turn of the millennium, Jarmo returned to Finland with his family, and his work for Outokumpu continued, for example in studying the nickel potential in Fennoscandia. Unfortunately, this work was cut short when Outokumpu ran down both its mineral exploration and mining activities. Via Polar Mining, Jarmo eventually transferred to the employment of Altona Mining Ltd. to lead and develop the company’s mineral exploration for nickel and multimetal deposits and mining projects in Finland. This work eventually to the opening of a multimetal mine in Kylylahti.

Jarmo changed employers once again when the Kylylahti mine was acquired by Boliden. In his current role, Jarmo is in charge of developing Boliden’s mineral exploration operations in Finland.

Jarmo holds M.Sc. in Geology from the University of Oulu, Finland and he is a member of Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy. Since 2013 Jarmo has also been a member of BOD of Sotkamo Silver Oy.

As a whole, Jarmo’s career can be described as innovative, open-minded, persevering and productive, and it has led to exceptional successes in both mineral exploration and development mining projects.

Professor Gabor Gaál is a rather rare commodity – an inspiring individual who has successfully combined an innovative research and teaching career with project generation and management skills, in many countries and across the entire range of geosciences studies, from exploration through tectonics to groundwater management.

During the same time, Gabor was pioneering mathematical approaches to geology, data integration and the development of computer-based methods for management of geological and ore deposit databases. From 1970-1983 Gabor also taught at the Universities of Helsinki and Oulu in Finland where he is remembered for his enthusiastic teaching and field course by a whole generation of students.

After a period in Brazil, furthering his international experience, Gabor joined GTK in 1984 as Chief Geoscientist coordinating research in mineral exploration and tectonics. Gabor then returned to his native Hungary as Director of the Geological Survey, undertaking the challenging task of restructuring an entire organization, before taking up the position of research director at GTK. During these years he consolidated his role as an innovative and tireless coordinator of international collaboration in the geosciences, through IUGS, EuroGeoSurveys and in the initiation of numerous multidisciplinary EU-funded projects. After retirement in 2003, Gabor continued his activities on EU-projects as the scientific coordinator for ProMine, an ambitious large-scale, integrated EU Framework Project involving 28 collaborative groups from throughout Europe.

Professor Heikki Papunen was actually born as long as December 1936. Heikki graduated in 1960, and gained his doctorate from the University of Helsinki in 1971. His undergraduate studies on the Archean volcanics of the Kuhmo greenstone belt evidently triggered a lifelong interest in geology which still continues today.

Now, over four decades later his name is synonymous with research into ultramafic and mafic magmatic processes and mineral systems. This has led to fruitful and long-lasting collaboration throughout Europe and beyond and the training of two generations of geologists, through his long and ongoing association with the University of Turku.

Heikki is also widely known for his tireless promotion of earth sciences in Finland and abroad, as is evident from the range of honorary positions and appointments that he has held with international associations, particularly SGA. His expertise has also been recognized by the exploration and mining community, through numerous consulting activities and industry-sponsored projects.