Dr. Marja Liisa Räisänen
Geological Survey of Finland
Dr. Räisänen has graduated in geology, mineralogy and engineering geology at the beginning of 1980’s from the Turku University, Finland. In 1996, she write Ph. D. thesis on anthropogenic soil acidification at the same University. During her studies she worked in the ore exploration team of the Outokumpu Company. Since 1984 (December) she has worked at the Geological Survey of Finland, first as a scientist and since 1996 as a senior scientist. From 2003 to 2008 she was appointed research professor office on Applied Geochemistry, the temporary joint-professor of the Geological Survey of Finland and Kuopio University. From 2010 to 2012 she worked as senior expert in mining environmental issues at the regional supervising office (The ELY centre) where she was supervising education program on mining environmental issues. She wrote scientific publications and articles on soil mineralogy and geochemistry, as well as geochemical studies on mining emissions and their impacts. She has been a co-author of several Finnish guides such as the best environmental practices for the metal ore mining, IA, mine closure (translated in English). Recent new research deals with the mining waste utilisation.
Utilisation of mine wastes – how to achieve zero mining wastes
At present, it is a common objective to apply efficiency in the use of resources and raw materials. At that moment those residues were not considered as a potential resource and these days they are an important environmental responsibility, a result of a degradation in some of the components of the environment and that at some point we must pay or use energy to settle that debt. The Geological Survey of Finland is specialised in characterisation of mining wastes and their valorisation for secondary raw materials of critical metals and ceramic products (e.g. geopolymers) and reusing in land constructions with minor/no impacts.