Arctic copper mine threatens sacred sámi waters as norway approves massive seafloor waste dumping

Norway has approved a controversial copper mining project that will dump up to 2 million tons of mining waste annually into a protected Arctic fjord, sparking fierce opposition from Indigenous Sámi communities who depend on these waters for their traditional way of life.

The Nussir copper mine, located in Hammerfest on Norway’s Kvaløya island and owned by Canadian company Blue Moon Metals, has received government permission to pipe its toxic tailings directly to the bottom of Repparfjord—a nationally protected salmon fjord in the Norwegian Arctic. The Norwegian Environmental Agency granted the environmental license after the company confirmed plans to “securely place” the waste on the seafloor, but Indigenous Sámi fishers and environmental groups are sounding the alarm about catastrophic ecological damage.

The fjord serves as critical habitat for Atlantic salmon and lies along traditional reindeer migration and breeding routes that the Sámi people have relied on for generations. Local Sámi communities fear the massive waste deposits will devastate marine ecosystems and destroy their fishing-based livelihoods, representing yet another threat to their already vulnerable cultural practices.

“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,” explained Frode Elias Lindal, a part-Sámi local representative who serves on municipal and county councils. The conflict highlights the ongoing tension between industrial development and Indigenous rights in the Arctic, where climate change and resource extraction continue to pressure traditional communities and fragile ecosystems.