Zero Emission Copper Mine, Norway

Undoubtedly one of Europe’s and the world’s most progressive mining projects, and a potential contender for the title of the world’s first truly all electric mine, is Nussir ASA’s copper project in northern Norway’s Finnmark region. Nussir has received all its major permits and approvals from the Norwegian government, and a positive feasibility study was recently completed by SRK Consulting. The mine is located on Repparfjord and is expected to begin construction this year. It has the potential to produce about 50% of Norway’s consumption of copper. All of Nussir’s electricity needs will be covered by renewable energy sources and it will use a 100% BEV fleet of 47 machines including the primary mining fleet plus utility vehicles.

Nussir CEO Øystein Rushfeldt gave an update on the project at The Electric Mine 2022 conference in Stockholm, Sweden, and announced at the event a new zero emissions partnership with Epiroc for its primary mine development and production fleets. The partnership was cemented with a meeting between Epiroc President and CEO Helena Hedblom & Nussir’s Rushfeldt at the conference. Erik Kieding Presthus, Epiroc’s Regional General Manager for Norway, Finland and the Baltics told IM: “Nussir’s planned fully electric copper mine in Norway is a very exciting project. We have worked closely with Nussir in the planning stage, and we are looking forward to play a key role in their journey with our top-modern battery-electric mining equipment. We have a broad leading offering of battery-electric equipment and we see that Nussir and other customers acknowledge this and want to go for zero-emission operations.  The benefits of this for customers and society as a whole include zero emissions, a healthier work environment without fumes and with less noise, vibration and heat, and lower total cost of operations.”

The mine will use an innovative mining method with five mobile crushers, one on each ore pass, of which there will be one every 360 m. Trucks will be used mainly for development. The mine will have inclined ore drives so 14 t LHDs going downhill loaded to ore passes will benefit from battery regeneration. There will also be extensive use of underground conveyors. Norwegian contractor LNS will do all stope mining and development. The partnership with Epiroc includes both the ST14 Battery LHD and the MT42 Battery truck as well as drilling equipment. While being a highly sustainable and productive mine in its own right, Nussir will also act as a showcase mine for other operators.