New Mineral Act adopted by the Parliament
Haavind has previously reported on the proposal for a new Mineral Act which was presented by the Government early April 2025. The Parliament has now adopted the new Mineral Act, which will replace the old Mineral Act from 2009 and enters into force 1 July 2026.
The main elements of the new Mineral Act as adopted, are:
- Better coordination when managing application for licenses to explore and/or exploit mineral resources both belonging to the State and to private landowners by the Directorate for management of Mineral Resources.
- Clearer requirements for the industry when applying for exploration or exploitation licenses with a requirement to present an exploration plan, and a new approach with an exclusive exploration license for the States minerals providing more certainty and predictability when mineral projects are initiated. Further, the duration of an exploration license has been reduced from seven to three years to increase incentives for initiation of projects.
- Better safeguarding of Sámi interests with an expansion of the area where the particular regard to Sámi interests, such as impacts on reindeer herding, shall be taken to include the full traditional Sami areas. Further, the new Mineral Act introduces an indigenous peoples’ compensation based on a percentage of the value of the extracted minerals to be applied on extraction in the traditional Sámi areas, to be decided by Parliament.
Further, the Parliament requested the Government to include an exemption in the proposal for a revised motor vehicle law to give permission to the use of motor vehicles to entities awarded a license for exploration or exploitation of minerals as long as the landowner accepts such use. Finally, the Parliament requested the Government to present a proposal for a model for the distribution of the indigenous peoples’ compensation.
The relationship between the new Mineral Act and the EUs legislative initiatives relevant for the area, such as the Critical Raw Material Act, has not been addressed in detail by the Parliament. Our assessment stands, that the new Mineral Act and CRMA push in the same direction – towards increased exploration and exploitation of critical raw materials and minerals in Europe. However, it is an uncertainty for Norwegian actors that the relationship between the new Mineral Act and CRMA, and whether CRMAt will be incorporated into Norwegian law thorough the EEA procedures is not clarified.
Having the importance of the mineral sector clear in mind, and the ambition to become more self-sufficient in Europe on critical raw materials and minerals, legal uncertainty should be avoided.
Here you can find the Governments PM on the adoption of the new Mineral Act:https://www.regjeringen.no/no/aktuelt/ny-minerallov-skal-sikre-barekraftig-mineralnaring-for-framtiden/id3110134/?utm_source=regjeringen.no&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nyhetsvarsel20250620