NORWAY Law and Practice Contributed by: Mona Søyland, Øystein Nore Nyhus, Halvor Klingenberg and Fredrik Haberer Anfinsen, Simonsen Vogt Wiig
emphasises Norway’s potential for extraction of critical minerals. The government has high - lighted five focus areas as follows. • Norwegian mineral projects must be imple - mented faster. • The Norwegian mineral industry must contrib - ute to the circular economy. • The Norwegian mineral industry must become more sustainable. • Norwegian mineral projects need good access to private capital. • Norway will be a stable supplier of raw mate - rials for green value chains. In addition, a new Minerals act is expected to be adopted in 2025. The current mining policy is also driven by sev - eral EU and international strategies, such as the CRMA and the US-led Minerals Security Part - nership. Additionally, the Norwegian Mineral Industry Association actively promotes the TSM reporting programme in Norway.
Both junior and major international mining companies have increased their investments in Norwegian mineral projects. The investments include exploration and survey projects, but also mature projects where operations can begin in the next couple of years. In June 2024, the Norwegian mining compa - ny Rare Earths Norway announced a mineral resource estimate showing that the Fen Car - bonatite Complex hosts continental Europe’s largest deposit of rare earth elements. The Fen Complex is described as a very large deposit in a global context and is probably by far the largest in Europe. A conservative estimate suggests that the Fen field contains between 30 and 50 mil - lion tonnes of rare earth elements. In compari - son, the Swedish rare earth complex in Kiruna is reported to contain 1.3 million tonnes.
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