Northern lights

摘要

With an attendance of around 1 00 delegates, the IM Forum and Dinner 2006 - held on 1 6 November, and hosted at the Scandic Continental, Helsinki, Finland - proved to be a great success. The event - entitled "Northern Lights: a mineral focus on Northern countries and north-west Russia" - focused on current industrial minerals production and markets in the Nordic countries of Europe; and highlighted the extensive, yet uncultivated mineral potential in this region, and the need for investment. The conference was declared officially open by Timo Vartiainen, chairman of the board at Larox Corp., the event sponsor. In addition to Finland's love of saunas and vodka, Vartiainen's presentation spotlighted the innovation shown by Nordic countries in recent years, with Finland, Sweden, and Denmark ranking second, third, and fourth respectively in the World Economic Forum's 2006-2007 global competitiveness chart. Vartiainen also outlined that with the pulp and paper industry forming a large part of the economy in the Nordic area, industrial minerals - particularly carbonates; TiO_2; and Al/Mg silicates - are of great importance.