Nor­we­gi­an coal mining in Spits­ber­gen curr­ent­ly not pro­fi­ta­ble

The Nor­we­gi­an mining com­pa­ny Store Nor­ske is curr­ent­ly not doing well. The com­pa­ny, which is by more than 99 % sta­te-owned, will again pre­sent a loss as this year’s result.

Mining in (or near) Lon­gye­ar­by­en is only on an almost sym­bo­lic level in mine 7 in Advent­da­len. Sveagru­va, or Svea Nord to be pre­cise, has given the com­pa­ny good years in the past, but it alre­a­dy feels like a distant past loo­king at today’s figu­res. Svea Nord has its best days defi­ni­te­ly alre­a­dy behind it. Pre­pared for mining is a new mine at Lun­ckef­jel­let, north of Sveagru­va, but the seams the­re are esti­ma­ted to last only for 4-5 years of mining and pro­fits are doubtful given cur­rent world mar­ket pri­ces. Fur­ther coal occur­ren­ces are explo­red, for exam­p­le at Bas­sen moun­tain nor­the­ast of Lon­gye­ar­by­en, but it is uncer­tain if a new mine is poli­ti­cal­ly via­ble.

In 2012, Store Nor­ske finis­hed with a minus of 234 Nor­we­gi­an Kro­ner (near 29 mil­li­on Euro), and 2013 will not be much bet­ter. It employs still about 300 peo­p­le. Ear­lier in 2013, 70 lost their jobs, not inclu­ding tho­se in sub­con­trac­ting com­pa­nies who depend on Store Nor­ske. This shows how important the com­pa­ny still is for Lon­gye­ar­by­en, whe­re a good 2000 peo­p­le are living.

Store Nor­ske is using both cre­dits and capi­tal built up during bet­ter years to finan­ce invest­ments such as the Lun­ckef­jel­let mine. The par­lia­ment has made it clear that the com­pa­ny can not expect fur­ther public fun­ding. A while ago, Store Nor­ske has bought the majo­ri­ty of shares of the logi­stics sup­pli­er Pole Posi­ti­on. Pos­si­bly a hint towards a future bey­ond coal mining?

Source: NRK

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