To Mine or Not To Mine Critical Minerals in Europe? From societal concerns to shared solutions?

“The energy transition cannot succeed without critical minerals. But it cannot succeed without social legitimacy either.” That’s the baseline statement for our upcoming high-level expert panel “To Mine or Not To Mine Critical Minerals in Europe? From societal concerns to shared solutions?”, which will take place in Helsinki, Finland on 3 June 2026.

Here below you can now find the completed programme. It took some time. But we are so excited to have developed such a remarkable list of topics and complementary speakers. This event wants to be different: a genuine dialogue to find common ground!

✅ The programme is ready: [Detailed Programme]

📍Helsinki, Finland
🗓️ 3 June 2026

The event will also have specific attention for the freshly released Greenpeace International report “BEYOND EXTRACTION: Pathways for a 1.5°C-aligned Energy Transition with Less Minerals”, which will be compared with the Benchmark Mineral Intelligence graphic about the number of required new mines to meet the energy transition demands. For links, see below in comments.

❓More information about the registration procedure will follow.

Speakers:

(Part I – Global perspectives)
Armand MacKenzie
Stefan Debruyne
Namakau Kaingu

(Part II – EU perspectives)
Toni Eerola
Sophie Grenade
Adele R.
Greenpeace International
Kristiina Jokelainen, SmartNorth Ltd
Pekka Suomela

(Part III – Nordic perspectives)
Suopajärvi Leena
Kaisa Raitio
Sisli Piisilä
Terho Liikamaa
Saija Luukkanen
Ronald Arvidsson
Joanna Kuntonen-van ‘t Riet

(Part IV – Wrapping up)
Toni Eerola
Huib Huyse
Elisabeth Gammelsaeter

Organisers: Technical University of Crete SIM2 KU Leuven Geological Survey of Finland (GTK) / Geologian tutkimuskeskus (GTK) CICERO Project Horizon Europe LITHOS Horizon Europe EXCEED Horizon Europe LITHOS HEPHAESTUS HE Project H2PlasmaRed Horizon Europe Horizon Europe AVANTIS European Sustainable Mining & Innovation Network (ESMIN) Cluster Hub