FEM 2023 Steering committee

Chair of the FEM 2023 Steering committee

Mika Riipi, County Governor of Lapland, Regional Council of Lapland

Mika Riipi is the County Governor of the Regional Council of Lapland. He started in this position on March 1, 2013. Previously he has been the Municipality Director in Posio (2006-2013), town secretary in Haapavesi (2004-2006), and senior adviser in the Municipality department at the Ministry of the Interior (2002-2004).

Mr. Riipi holds a Master´s degree in Administrative Sciences, majoring in municipality jurisdiction. He graduated from the University of Tampere in 2002. Mr. Riipi is the Chair of the FEM Steering committee.

Vice-Chair of the FEM 2023 Steering committee

Henrik Schiellerup, PhD, Director, Resources and Environment, Geological Survey of Norway

Henrik Schiellerup is Director, Resources and Environment at the Geological Survey of Norway. He has a PhD from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology and an MSc from the University of Aarhus in Denmark. His primary background is in igneous petrology and mineral resources. Since 2001 he has been working at the Geological Survey of Norway both as a researcher and in various managerial roles. He has been Division Director at the survey since 2019.

Tobias Bauer, PhD, Associate Professor, Luleå University of Technology, Sweden

Tobias E. Bauer is Associate Professor in Ore Geology at Luleå University of Technology, Sweden. His research includes structural controls on ore deposits and the regional structural and tectonic evolution of mineralized belts. In addition, he is active in the field of 3-D and 4-D modeling applied to mineral belts, mineral deposits, and related structures.

He received an M.Sc. degree in geology from Ludwig-Maximilian University of Munich, Germany, in 2008 and a Ph.D. degree in ore geology from Luleå University of Technology, Sweden, in 2013.

Pertti Lamberg, PhD, Professor, Sakatti Project Manager, Anglo American (AA Sakatti Mining Oy), represents FinnMin

Professor Pertti Lamberg (PhD, geology), Anglo Amercian’s Sakatti Project Manager and CEO of AA Sakatti Mining Oy, has more than 30 years’ experience in mining industry and academia.

He worked in different R&D positions in Outokumpu and Outotec between 1990 and 2010. In 2011-2016 Pertti worked as a Professor in Geometallurgy in Luleå University of Technology, and in 2016-2020 as CEO of Keliber Oy. He joined Anglo American in June 2020. Pertti has wide technical expertise from exploration, resource characterization, geometallurgy, process design and mining project development and management. 

Kaj Lax, PhD, Head of Department, Mineral Resources, Geological Survey of Sweden (SGU)

Kaj Lax is Head of the Mineral Resources Department at the Geological Survey of Sweden, SGU, Uppsala.

He has a background in geochemistry, and as Head of the Mineral Information Office in Malå.

Saija Luukkanen, Professor, Head of Unit, Oulu Mining School, University of Oulu, Finland

Saija Luukkanen has worked as professor in mineral processing at Oulu Mining School, University of Oulu since 2015. To her current post she came from consulting company Pöyry where she worked in its Mining and Metals BU, both in Peru and Finland.

During her career she has also worked for Geological Survey of Finland (GTK Mintec) as a group leader and for Lafarge (France) as project leader. Her background is in physical chemistry.

Jani Lösönen, Managing Director, Agnico Eagle Finland Oy, represents FinnMin

Mr. Jani Lösönen is the Vice President, Europe, Agnico Eagle Mines LTD, and Managing Director of Agnico Eagle Finland Oy since 2017. As a board professional Mr. Lösönen holds several board member positions in various companies and organizations. Mr. Lösönen is the current Chair of the board of the Finnish Mining Association (FinnMin) and he has also been a member of Euromines Executive Committee since 2018. Prior joining Agnico Eagle, Mr. Lösönen was CEO at environmental management company Ekokem. He holds Master’s degree in Industrial Engineering and Management from the Lappeenranta University of Technology.

Riitta Muhojoki, FEM Project Manager, Regional Council of Lapland | FEM Conference

About questions concerning the overall conference organization e.g. programme, sponsoring, media relations, marketing and website, please contact Riitta: riitta.muhojoki at lapinliitto.fi

Riitta has been working with FEM conferences since 1999.

Tiina Rajala, Development Director, Council of Oulu Region

Tiina Rajala works as the development Director of the Council of the Oulu Region. She started in the post on 1.4.2014. Before she worked for five years as the Regional Director of the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health Oulu office (2008-2014). Her areas of responsibility included for example matters related to the mining sector such as work Safety and Occupational health. She was doing coordination between experts and authorities in mining operativies.

Mrs. Rajala has previously studied at the University of Vaasa, majoring in public law and administration.

Maarit Siitonen, Business and innovation specialist, Regional Council of North Karelia

Maarit Siitonen works as a business and innovation specialist in Regional Council of North Karelia. His responsibilities include implementation of smart specialization strategy and research & innovation policies. In addition, Maarit is coordinating the national funding instrument for regional development and renewal.  Maarit has previously worked in the education sector in Universities and University of Applies Sciences. She holds Master’s Degree in Social Sciences from the University of Eastern Finland.

Sabina Strmic Palinkas, PhD, Professor, UiT the Arctic University of Norway

Sabina Strmic Palinkas received her PhD (2009) degrees from the University of Zagreb, Croatia. In 2013, she moved to the University of Auckland, New Zealand, for a two-year research fellowship, studying ore-forming processes in low-sulfidation epithermal gold systems. Since 2015, she has been affiliated with UiT The Arctic University of Norway in Tromsø as a professor in ore deposit geology and geochemistry. In 2019, she joined K.G. Jebsen Centre for Deep Sea Research at University of Bergen, Norway, where she holds an adjunct position in ore geology.

Her principal area of research is geochemistry of hydrothermal ore deposits, including mineral chemistry, fluid inclusion studies, stable isotope geochemistry, and thermodynamic modelling. During the past 20 years, she has been involved in studies of a wide spectrum of ore deposits, including epithermal, Carlin-type, hydrothermal-metasomatic, skarn, SEDEX, MVT and pegmatite deposits, as well as in several environmental studies. Recently she is mostly working on submarine hydrothermal systems along the Arctic Mid-Ocean Ridges and volcanogenic massive sulfide (VMS) deposits, orogenic gold deposits and sediment hosted Cu deposits in Norway.

Eero Vilhu, Regional Development Specialist, Regional Council of Kainuu

Eero Vilhu has over 20 years of experience of regional planning. He works for the Regional Council of Kainuu where he is mainly responsible for project financing in the field of regional policy & development. His work is also related to EU communication issues concerning regional development and citizen participation.

Mr. Vilhu has been lately involved at some responsibilities in mining sector within the Regional Council of Kainuu. He holds a Master’s Degree of Social Sciences from the University of East Finland 1992, majoring in Planning Geography.