Environmental Responsibility and Reporting

Climate change

Climate change is one of the greatest challenges of our time, and as a mining and minerals company, we recognize our responsibility to minimize our environmental impact and contribute to a low-carbon future. The Paris Agreement sets ambitious goals to limit global warming down to 1.5°C and the European Union aims to be a climate neutral economy by 2050. To reach a low-carbon future, it requires a reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions across industries and a large-scale shift to clean energy sources like solar, wind, hydro, and geothermal power. Mining companies play a crucial role in the transition by supplying the essential minerals needed for green energy technologies.

Nordic Mining’s goal is net zero emissions from our operations. We are committed to being transparent of our carbon footprint, by publicly disclosing carbon emissions from our operations and providing benchmarking data for our products when available. By collaborating with suppliers and customers, we aim to reduce emissions throughout the value chain.

See more of our work related to climate change in our sustainability report as part of the annual report for 2024.

Waste management

One of the biggest challenges in the mining industry is finding sustainable ways to manage extractive waste. Mining and mineral extraction generates large volumes of waste, including waste rock and tailings.

Our operations produce waste in the form of waste rock and tailings, and to ensure proper waste management we have a Construction Environmental Management Plan (CEMP) in place for the construction phase of the Engebø project and a Waste Management Plan in place for the operational phase.

We are committed to complying with the requirements in our operating license given by the Directorate of Mining (DirMin). Our goal is to reduce waste and to improve resource efficiency by integrating sustainable practices in our operations. We continuously monitor and assess our waste streams, seeking to reduce waste volumes, improve tailings management and to explore circular economy solutions to reuse waste rock.

See more of our work related to waste management in our sustainability report as part of the annual report for 2024.

Water & marine resources, biodiversity and ecosystems

Water, marine resources and biodiversity are essential for the health of ecosystems. As a mining and minerals company, we know that our operations can have direct and indirect impacts on these resources. Excess materials from our production consist of waste rock from the mine and tailings from the processing plant. In line with our operating license given by the Directorate of Mining (DirMin), waste rock is deposited in a landbased disposal site, and deep-sea tailings in the fjord.

In line with our environmental monitoring program, extensive baseline monitoring of the fjord has been finalized during 2024 ensuring updates of the baseline prior to production start-up. We have an ambitious goal for the Engebø Project, with a goal of biodiversity net gain for life of mine. We are currently monitoring and tracking biodiversity actions, and there is also a Biodiversity Action Plan in place. The plan is developed in collaboration with DNV and Asplan Viak to support our work to reduce, restore and compensate biodiversity loss for the project’s footprint and to ensure that we reach our biodiversity targets.

See more of our work related to water & marine resources, biodiversity and ecosystems in our sustainability report as part of the annual report for 2024.

TSM

A key part of our commitment to sustainability is the adoption of the Towards Sustainable Mining (TSM) initiative. TSM is a globally recognized program that helps mining companies manage environmental and social risks. The Norwegian Mineral Industry Association is leading the implementation of this system in the Norwegian mining industry. Under TSM, we will report on eight key protocols related to community engagement, environmental stewardship, and energy efficiency. Our reporting will begin in 2025 once operations are fully established, with the first scores published in 2026. The work with TSM is ongoing and already partially integrated into our processes and we believe it will drive sustainable change in the mining sector.