AGEMERA conducts presentation at OECD Conference of Mining Regions and Cities
Our project was included in a panel discussion showcasing innovative exploration practices that align with ESG Strategies
AGEMERA once again attended an event in Rovaniemi, the official capital of Lapland (the northernmost region in Finland, close and beyond the Arctic Circle) and...Santa Claus. This time, we joined the OECD Conference of Mining Regions and Cities, an event gathering key actors across the public and private sectors, academia, civil society organisations, and representatives of indigenous communities. This year's edition focused on two pillars: improving community participation, trust, and communications in mining, and advancing research and innovation for sustainable mining practices.
Much to our joy, we were invited to and submitted an abstract to participate in a parallel session (a GeoInnovation session), with the aim of showcasing AGEMERA's work and key results, particularly in regards to ESG practices (e.g. our surveys investigating local communities' perceptions and fears regarding mineral exploration in the region). Cătălina Vrabie, the project's communication manager and co-leader of the dissemination, communication, and exploitation activities, was the one who conducted the presentation on behalf of our project and later on took questions from the audience.
And that's not all the representation AGEMERA benefitted from at the conference! On the first day, Leena Suopajärvi, our colleague from the University of Lapland, held a keynote speech, drawing from her experience in the AGEMERA social survey, examining the root causes of social polarisation and resentment towards mining, highlighting potential solutions to explaining the sector better to the general public, thus counteracting misinformation and building trust and legitimacy. Moreover, Jari Joutsenvaara, our project coordinator, moderated another parallel session on the environmentally friendly mineral exploration technologies, featuring insights from five of AGEMERA's sister projects.
While by the time of the next edition, taking place in Chile, AGEMERA will already have concluded, we are grateful to have spent a couple of days with our friends from the industry, exploring a more environmentally and socially friendly minerals sector.
