The Horizon 2020 New Exploration Technologies (NEXT) project announces the organization of a stakeholder workshop on 13 September 2021.

The event brings the opportunity to share new knowledge and showcase the new exploration technologies that have been developed by the research and innovation project. It will also provide the opportunity for Dirk De Ketelaere and Anna Spiteri (IRMCo) to present a Toolkit which includes recommendations as well as a wide range of material which are intended to guide and assist exploration companies to establish and maintain an active dialogue with local communities around their mineral exploration sites.

The Toolkit’s development which was led by IRMCo, draws on the outcomes of surveys among local communities and interviews with organized actors in both Finland and Sweden conducted by research colleagues from the University of Lapland and Luleå University of Technology. It also draws on the outcomes of interviews, conducted by Dirk De Ketelaere (IRMCo) and Toni Eerola from the Geological Survey of Finland (GTK), with mineral exploration companies to ensure the Toolkit meets their expectations of being process-oriented, i.e. providing practical guidance to the questions ‘Why‘, ‘What‘, ‘When‘, ‘How‘ and ‘With who‘ an active dialogue is essential to gain and maintain the Social License to Explore.

In addition to exploration companies, the event should be of major interest to policy makers, organized actors and interest groups on the European level.

More information about the event, including the agenda and bio-notes of the speakers can be accessed here.

Please follow this link to register your participation in this online event.