Anglo American PLC on Monday signed a memorandum of understanding with Finnish Minerals Group to explore opportunities to support Finland’s battery strategy.

The London-based miner said ‘Finland is a highly attractive investment destination and has a strong heritage in both mining and innovation’.

Alison Atkinson, projects & development director said: ‘This agreement further strengthens our commitment to Finland as well as to our Sakatti project, a true polymetallic orebody very much aligned to Finland’s and the EU’s critical minerals priorities’.

AA Sakatti Mining Oy is Anglo American’s Finnish subsidiary operating in Sodankyla.

Sakatti is a multi-metal deposit with ‘excellent’ exploration potential. In addition to important base metals such as copper, nickel and cobalt, the deposit also contains platinum, palladium, gold and silver.

Anglo American said Finland provides a stable and secure source of many of the metals and minerals needed for the world to decarbonise and is well positioned in terms of its natural resources.

Finnish Minerals Group is a holding and development company that manages the Finnish government’s mining industry shareholdings and supports the development of the Finnish battery value chain. It is also known as Suomen Malmijalostus Oy.

The company’s main assets are Terrafame, a subsidiary that produces nickel and cobalt sulphates; project Sokli, a phosphate and rare earths deposit; and a 20% interest in Keliber, a battery-grade lithium project aiming to start production in 2025.

Additionally, Finnish Minerals Group is advancing several greenfield investments further downstream in the battery value-chain.

Shares in Anglo American were up 1.4% to 1,726.40 pence in London on Monday morning. They were up 1.4% to R 413.84 in Johannesburg.

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