Graham Farrer
Head of Sustainability
Kingsrose Mining
Graham is a sustainability professional with more than 20 years’ experience within land development, oil and gas and mining. Over the previous 15 years, Graham has focused exclusively on mining and has delivered considered and sustainable outcomes related to environmental, social, governance (ESG), closure and rehabilitation, enterprise risk management, sustainability strategy development and execution, environmental approvals, and environmental social due diligence projects. Over this time, Graham has held leadership positions within an engineering consultancy, for Rio Tinto, for the Northern Territory Government (in Australia) and within sustainability consultancy. He has led teams and projects across more than 40 countries in a full range of commodities, supporting the most major mining organisations, mid-tier producers, and sustainable exploration companies. Graham holds professional memberships with Australasian Mining and Metallurgy and Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management and is a Chartered Water and Environmental Manager, Chartered Environmentalist, and Certified Environmental Practitioner. He also holds tertiary qualifications in environmental management, environmental science, project management, and sustainable resource development.
Permitting and CRMA – Finland and Norway
The future of the green transition, climate change and the competitiveness of industries from automotive to energy depend on securing critical minerals. The achieve a robust pipeline of critical minerals projects in Europe, consideration of the full mining lifecycle, including exploration, is essential. The CRMA is silent on encouraging exploration and streamlining the exploration permitting process. S&P Global currently estimates that timeframes from discovery to production average 17.3 years. Without consideration of pre-discovery permitting, this is likely to extend beyond 20 years. Finland as an EU member and with a long mining history presents a useful case study. Kingsrose are currently permitting one of the highest-grade platinum group elements (PGE) projects globally, which is located in a Natura 2000 designated area. In addition, Kingsrose are advancing exploration projects within Central Finland. The permitting process for both projects, including lessons learnt, will be presented. Norway is not an EU member but has recently signed a MoU with the EU and developed a critical minerals strategy in 2023. Norway has a limited mining history but is experiencing increased interest. Kingsrose are currently advancing two early-stage projects in Northern Norway and with more than 30% of Norway on Indigenous Land, permitting complexity increases. The permitting process for both projects, including lessons learnt, will be presented.
