Circular Critical Raw Materials: From Zero‑Waste Mining to Competitive Circular Value Chains

Namibia plays an increasingly important role in global critical raw materials (CRM) value chains, offering significant opportunities to create more value locally while responding to growing international demand. Circular economy approaches — including improved resource efficiency and reduced waste — are key drivers of competitiveness, environmental performance and investment attractiveness in the sector.

This session is hosted at Namibia-EU Business Forum | EU-Africa Business Forum Facility by the EU Circular Economy Resource Centre (EU CERC) and the Embassy of Finland in Windhoek. It explores how to translate circular economy ambitions into concrete, investable solutions in the CRM sector. The session will present a concept of zero‑waste mining and circular recovery of critical raw materials, drawing on a collaboration case between of Geological Survey of Finland (GTK), Andrada Mining and Metso in Namibia.

These topics will be on agenda:

• EU CERC’s support for partnerships in circular economy, connecting EU and partner countries under the Global Gateway framework
• GTK’s global experience on how additional minerals and side streams can be recovered responsibly and economically
• Andrada Mining’s view on opportunities, challenges and enabling conditions for circular CRM value chains
• Metso’s industry leading processing solutions supporting circularity, maximized value recovery and environmental performance
• Scaling-up circular mining cooperation between EU and Namibia
• Circular economy collaboration between Finland and Namibia, such as the World Circular Economy Forum side studios and the recent Circular Economy Dialogue.

This session is targeted to business leaders, policymakers, technology providers and investors seeking practical insights into EU–Namibia cooperation on critical raw materials — and concrete examples of how circular economy solutions can strengthen competitiveness, sustainability and partnership opportunities.

Speakers
Maija Seppälä – Senior Lead, Circular Economy, Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra
Maija works with the EU Circular Economy Resource Centre (EU CERC), supporting international partnerships, linking policy to practice and facilitating collaboration. She focuses on developing circular solutions for critical raw materials. Maija has extensive experience in international cooperation across Africa, Asia and Latin America and a strong background in sustainable development, value chains, climate and natural resources.
Sugam Shukla – Research Scientist and Expert, Geological Survey of Finland (GTK)
Sugam is specializing in mineral processing, circular economy, hydrometallurgy and sustainable recovery of critical raw materials. At GTK, he contributes to international collaboration initiatives, including EU-supported cooperation with Namibian mining operations, aimed at translating circular economy principles into practical and economically viable solutions for the mining sector.
Timothy Marais, Head of Exploration, Andrada Mining
Timothy’s role at Andrada Mining is underpinned by a strong foundation in economic geology and a strategic mindset honed over years of managing and implementing exploration projects. His work focuses on project generation, and economic evaluation, instrumental in advancing exploration initiatives and streamlining processes.
Charles Ntsele – Vice President, Capital Sales Africa, Metso
Charles represents Metso, a global leader in mineral processing technologies. As an Executive for a leading OEM, he brings extensive experience in supporting the development of new and operating mining projects with advanced processing solutions that improve efficiency, enable circularity and support sustainable critical raw materials value chains.

The European Union Circular Economy Resource Centre (EU CERC) is a joint initiative of the European Commission, the Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra, the Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Belgian agency for international cooperation Enabel. The centre aims to promote circular economy collaboration between the EU and partner countries in the Global South and to increase the uptake of circular economy policies and business models globally.

More information:

Maija Seppälä

Lead Specialist, Global Circular Economy