• Finland is throwing financial muscle behind critical mineral projects 
• A bunch of ASX explorers are hunting for resources in the country, looking to bolster the nation’s homegrown supply 
• Latitude 66, which has a scoping study underway, is one of them 

Amid heated discussions on critical mineral deals, focus is now shifting to EU nations capable of strengthening the region’s mining, processing and recycling independence.

Just like the rest of the world, Europe is throwing financial muscle behind critical minerals projects in the hopes it can work its way out of the control of a belligerent competing power.

Overwhelmingly, China is the main hub for critical mineral processing and refining globally, refining about 68% of the world’s nickel, 40% of copper, 59% of lithium and 73% of cobalt.

But one Northern European country is quickly emerging as a key contender in the critical minerals processing space and is already the largest miner and refiner of cobalt in Europe and the second largest cobalt refiner worldwide.

Finland, home to Europe’s three largest cobalt refineries, has a significant role to play when it comes to EU cobalt supply.

Cobalt was classified as a critical raw material by the EU in 2010 and subsequently included in the first list of strategic raw materials in 2023 owing to its high importance to the EU economy, technology and low-carbon future.

The Finnish government, a strong supporter of the mining sector, helped pull together a new minerals strategy at the end of last year, focusing on streamlining permitting processes and increasing financial support for projects advancing the green transition.

And luckily for the EU, who is hungry to mine, there’s a bunch of explorers and mine developers looking to feed into its domestic supply chain.

Latitude quickly moving into development 

One such company is Latitude 66 (ASX:LAT), which has been proving up the resource base at the Kuusamo Schist Belt (KSB) project in northern Finland since acquiring it about eight years ago from HKG-listed Dragon Mining.

Over that timeframe, the explorer has accumulated one of the largest exploration land holdings in Finland (around 1,000km2) and currently owns the third largest undeveloped cobalt mineral resource in the EU.

It has unlocked the potential of the KSB asset with new discoveries and targets and has also increased the gold-cobalt resource inventory to 7.3Mt at 2.7g/t gold for 650,000oz and 0.08% cobalt for 5,840t.

The explorer is looking to start reverse circulation drilling at the project this month, homing in on two defined geophysical and geochemical anomalies at the K6E and K6W prospects, which sit around 1km south of the resource base.

Both anomalies are beneath approximately 2-3m of transported till cover, with RC drilling ideal for shallow testing the underlying bedrock geology.

Alongside exploration work, the company is in partnership with an EU-funded research project where the KSB has been identified as one of the case-study exploration regions.

The objective is to support the need for increased exploration of raw materials, especially critical mineral resources from within the EU.

LAT will be working with the Geological Survey of Finland (GTK) to drive exploration efforts and develop new techniques and concepts.

Speaking with Stockhead, LAT managing director Grant Coyle said he is confident there’s potential to at least double the resource following the identification of new targets located around the resource area.

“There aren’t too many resources out there that have our grade and what’s really exciting is how quickly we can transition into development,” he said.

“What we are trying to show with this study is that the asset as it stands is a significant economic project, and then from there we will look to expand the resource in parallel with study work to push the project into development phases.

“We’ve got the best of both worlds with a highly economic project that is pushing closer to development but also significant exploration upside.

“The sky is the limit for us in terms of what this could be.”

A scoping study is currently underway to define a project based on the existing resource and on track for completion later this quarter.

New acquisitions and project expansions

BHP-backed Kingsrose Mining (ASX:KRM) added the Jakon nickel-copper-cobalt project from Rio Tinto Exploration (RTX) in Central Finland to its portfolio last month, strengthening its position in the Kotalahti nickel-copper belt.

The acquisition will form part of the company’s Exploration Alliance with BHP in Finland, which sees the major sole funding up to US$20m ($31m) over a four-year period for belt-scale base-metal targets.

KRM plans to utilise extensive datasets from RTX to deploy advanced exploration methodologies and prioritise exploration camps for further exploration.

Nordic Resources (ASX:NNL) has meanwhile expanded its footprint in northern Finland after the granting of further exploration licences at the Pulju nickel-copper-cobalt project, adding another 46km2 to the landholding.

The company now has full exploration rights spanning 12km of continuous strike within the known, mapped Mertavaara Formation, which contains the mineralised ultramafic unit throughout the asset area.

Pulju is located 195km from Boliden’s Kevitsa nickel-copper-gold-PGE mine and processing plant in Sodankylä, Finland, which provides feed for the Harjavalta smelter about 950km to the south.

At Stockhead, we tell it like it is. While Latitude 66 is a Stockhead advertiser, it did not sponsor this article.