Diversified miner Anglo American's Sakatti copper and polymetallic project, in Finland, has been designated as a strategic project by the European Commission under the EU's Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA). 

Under the CRMA, strategic projects are considered to be in the public interest dowing to their importance in ensuring security of supply of strategic raw materials in the EU, thereby benefiting from more efficient processing of permitting applications and, therefore, more predictable development timelines.

"We are delighted to be awarded strategic project status for Sakatti – an important milestone for this exceptional mineral deposit with a high concentration of future-enabling metals, including a primary product of copper, very much aligned with Finland's and the EU's critical raw materials priorities. 

"The EU currently produces about 4% of the critical minerals it needs and has a stated ambition to increase this to 10%. With Sakatti expected to deliver around 100 000 t/y of copper equivalent metal from the early 2030s, we expect to play a significant role in helping to build Europe's capacity and secure the responsible supply of the metals and minerals required for decarbonising our energy and transport systems, numerous advanced technologies and meeting the fast-growing demands of hundreds of millions of people in their everyday lives," says Anglo projects and development director Alison Atkinson.

The Anglo group has a number of well-sequenced brownfield and greenfield prospects for a pathway to more than one-million tonnes of copper output a year. This includes the greenfield Sakatti project. 

"Located in Finnish Lapland, 15 km north of Sodankylä, we are applying our blueprint for responsible mining to design and develop Sakatti as one of our next generation of FutureSmart mines – a highly automated, low-carbon underground operation with minimal surface footprint. 

"Finland provides a stable and secure source of many of the metals and minerals needed for the world to decarbonise, as well as longstanding processing and refining capability, bringing benefits across the Nordic region. With an increasing number of countries prioritising sustainable access to responsibly sourced critical raw materials, Finland is well positioned in terms of its natural resources and the country's investment across the critical minerals value chain, from exploration to mining, processing and recycling," the group states.