Swedish-Australian Sustainable Mining Summit in Perth

20 May 2024 – Swedish-Australian Sustainable Mining Summit in Perth organised by Business Sweden’s Sydney office and the Embassy of Sweden in Canberra. The SACC were invited and Michael Dahlgren, Vice President of SACC took part together with SACC Perth WA Chapter Chair Joseph Olsson from Sandvik. 

The Summit explored how Sweden and Australia are shaping the future of the mining industry and the value of collaboration around sustainable, smart, automated and electric mines.

In his welcome remarks, Ambassador Pontus Melander pointed out that the path to green mining comes through collaboration and that sustainable mining practices are a must in the green transition towards net zero.

The Ambassador was followed by Minister for Mines and Petroleum; Ports and Road Safety; Hon David Michael. He acknowledged the long mining and trade history of both Sweden and Australia. Both countries share a net-zero goal and highlighted the importance of collaboration between democratic like-minded countries.

The meeting continued having a keynote from Sandvik, discussing Digital transformation in Mining, followed by a panel discussion on Smart Mines, Brighter Future: Navigating the shift towards automated and electrified mining. Participating in this panel discussion were senior employees with Sandvik, Epiroc, Rio Tinto, ABB and Goldfields. There were also a couple of start-up pitches, case studies and a final panel discussion on decarbonizing the critical minerals industry and balancing mining strategy for growth and sustainability. In this panel, there were senior people from Fortescue, Pilbara Minerals, Mineral Resources, Idoba and 3ME Technology.

The meeting closed with an exciting presentation from Talga Group (TLG), an ASX listed group that is working on the development of sustainable battery materials, including natural graphite sourced from a mine site in Vittangi (TF’s home village!), which is situated in between Pajala and Kiruna in the north of Sweden. The mine site has Europe’s largest and highest grade natural graphite deposit and the prospects seemed enormous if all goes their way. The meeting concluded with networking drinks. Event sponsors included: Platinum sponsor Sandvik, Gold sponsors Epiroc, ABB and Volvo Group and Bronze sponsor Scania Group. Other collaboration partners were Austmine, CRC TiME & International Mining.

Sweden and Abba took centerstage at Eurovision pre-event in Canberra

On May 2 the Embassy of Sweden in Canberra hosted a pre-event at the Hyatt Hotel to highlight the Eurovision Song Contest in Malmö, Sweden, later that in May. The gathering attracted about 350 guests from the Australian administration, the private sector, the diplomatic corps, and other Australian Eurovision enthusiasts.

Highlighting the evening was a spirited performance by opera singer Jade McFaul, who charmed attendees with Eurovision classics performed in an operatic style. Videos of this year’s finalists were also shown.

In his opening remarks, the Embassy’s Deputy Head of Mission Mr. Per Linnér underlined that Eurovision serves as a celebration of the core values Europe embodies – the freedom of artistic expression, gender equality and cultural diversity. Originating as a peace initiative, its aim was to unite nations and individuals through the universal languages of music and culture.

The event provided an excellent opportunity to strengthen the image of Sweden in Canberra and to raise awareness about Sweden as a major music export country. This year marks 50 years since the pop band ABBA won the Eurovision Song Contest in Brighton in 1974 with the iconic song “Waterloo”. Abba and Eurovision are both strong brands in Australia.

The success of the event was made possible through collaboration with the Embassies/High Commissions of Cyprus, Czechia, European Union in Australia, Finland, Germany, Israel, Malta, Norway and ESCFAN OGAE Australia.

Business Sweden – COVID-19 Global Executive Brief

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