ARN - Alternative mineral raw materials in northern Sweden

With the development of the society, the mining industry of northern Sweden is a leading contributor to the European metal production and thereby affects the Swedish and European economy. However, for small and medium-sized companies (SME) it is difficult to develop new technologies to streamline their operations. In order to counter this, an increased cooperation between research institutions and the regional companies would highly increase the competitiveness and innovative power of SME in the region.

The ARN project is established to build the innovation environment for the regional enterprises and increasing their competitiveness, it includes the research of ore geology, exploration geophysics and applied geochemistry, those subjects work with the same ore deposits but from different perspectives. The project has access to the data owned by the business partners which are deemed necessary to develop new technology, and further data need to be measured in the future.

ARN project aim:

1. Development of new technologies and innovations related to exploration of minerals (critical raw materials that are listed by the European Union, and in particular graphite and platinum-gold), in the form of a new software for advanced statistical interpretation of large amounts of complex geo-data.
2. Development of simulation methodologies (data models) for simulation of environmental effects from the mining of these raw materials, and early prediction of potential environmental effects from mining.
3. Establish a network of researchers at LTU and Umeå University as well as industry.

Collaborators, in addition to Luleå University of Technology and Umeå University are PRiMAB, Botnia Exploration, Water & Environmental Agency and Agnico Eagle Sweden.