The European Investment Bank (EIB) is lending EUR 45 million to Outotec Oyj, for research and development (R&D) activities to develop environmentally friendly technologies.

EIB Vice-President van Ballekom stated: “We are happy to sign this agreement with Outotec, which will bring substantial benefits to investing in research, development and innovation related to minerals and metallurgical processing technologies. These are key considerations for the EIB’s involvement in the world's metals production, water treatment and cleantech sector”.  

The EIB loan will foster research and development activities including: minerals and metallurgical processing, water treatment, and energy-related applications including heat recovery, combustion and gasification and gas handling. The R&D activities will be focused on the development of more efficient mineral and metallurgical process solutions needed to address declining ore grades; improvement of the recovery and recycling of metals and resources; reduction of energy and water consumption in processes; and efficient capturing of useful by-products. The activities will take place in the company’s R&D centres in Pori, Finland and Frankfurt, Germany.