"Mining company Blue Moon Metals plans to dispose of its mining waste in Repparfjord, a nationally protected salmon fjord in the Norwegian Arctic that Indigenous Sámi fishers rely on.
When operational, the Nussir ASA copper mine will deposit between 1 million and 2 million metric tons of tailings at the bottom of the fjord annually, according to the company’s permit."
"The Norwegian government has granted permission for the construction and operation of the Nussir copper mine in Hammerfest, a municipality on the northwestern coast of the island of Kvaløya, in Norway. The company plans to pipe between 1 million and 2 million metric tons of mining waste, or tailings, annually to the bottom of Repparfjord, a nationally protected salmon fjord in the Norwegian Arctic that Indigenous Sámi fishers depend on for their livelihoods.
The Nussir mining project is owned by Canadian company Blue Moon Metals. The Norwegian Environmental Agency issued Nussir ASA, the project’s previous owner, its environmental license after it confirmed the company’s plan to securely place the tailings at the bottom of the sea. However, this has faced strong opposition from some Sámi Indigenous people and environmental activists, who say they fear the mine and marine waste deposit will destroy vital marine habitats for species such as Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) and disrupt traditional breeding and migration areas for reindeer (Rangifer tarandus).
“The biggest social impact is the feeling that no place is safe, that local culture and the environment can only survive until someone finds a commercially viable project,” Frode Elias Lindal, a Green Party local representative for the Alta municipality council and Finnmark county council, who is part Sámi and part Norwegian, told Mongabay via email. “There is an ominous feeling that individual and collective rights are not real. [Mining] will also lead to reduced viability of the renewable resources in the ocean, and one less place for the fish to spawn and to grow, and for people to get food and revenue from the fisheries.”
In June, the European Commission designated the Nussir project a strategic critical raw material project under the Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA), an initiative to ensure the EU has access to the minerals it deems critical for the green energy, digital, aerospace and weapons sectors."
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