New coal mine at Lun­ckef­jel­let

The Nor­we­gi­an depart­ment of eco­no­my and trade has announ­ced that per­mis­si­on for a new coal mine at Lun­ckef­jel­let will be given. The mining com­pa­ny Store Nor­ske Spits­ber­gen Kull­kom­pa­ni (SNSK) has appli­ed for this per­mis­si­on to replace the mines at Sveagru­va, which are decli­ning in terms of qua­li­ty and quan­ti­ty of coal. The depart­ment has men­tio­ned main­ly eco­no­mic­al reaons.

The Nor­we­gi­an depart­ment of eco­no­my and trade is the most important share­hol­der of the SNSK.

Ope­ning a new mine clo­se to a natio­nal park is a con­tro­ver­si­al mat­ter. The Nor­we­gi­an govern­ment keeps say­ing it wants Sval­bard to beco­me “the best admi­nis­te­red wil­der­ness in the world” and pushes to clo­se major are­as to the public (see first Decem­ber note). To the Nor­we­gi­an govern­ment, ope­ning a new mine near a eco­lo­gi­cal­ly very important tun­dra area seems to be less envi­ron­men­tal­ly harmfull than small boats, rub­ber boots and limi­t­ed visi­tor num­bers in bar­ren are­as.

Envi­ron­men­tal obli­ga­ti­ons, inclu­ding a cle­a­nup after the end of mining acti­vi­ties, are part of the per­mis­si­on.

Source: Nor­we­gi­sches Wirt­schafts- und Han­dels­mi­nis­te­ri­um

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