New Minerals Act adopted and draft regulation sent for consultation

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Fisheries has also sent a draft regulation on mineral operations and the management of mineral resources out for public consultation.

We have followed the process closely, and below we highlight the most important changes in the new Minerals Act and the content of the draft regulation.

Overview of key documents:

• NOU 2022:8
• Prop. 71 L (2024-2025)

• Innst. 521 L (2024–2025)

• Høringsnotat - forslag til forskrift om mineralvirksomhet og forvaltning av mineralressurser

We have previously commented on the new Minerals Act in this newsletter.

What are the main changes in the New Minerals Act?

New general duty to coordinate and a sequencing requirement

The new Minerals Act introduces a general duty to coordinate, which applies to all types and stages of mineral operations. The duty to coordinate applies to the Norwegian Directorate of Mining with the Commissioner of Mines at Svalbard ("DMF"), which shall both process relevant applications under the Minerals Act and be the overarching and coordinating authority. It also provides that DMF may order the preparation of a plan for coordinated extraction where several rights holders are entitled to parts of the same deposit, and where coordinated extraction is clearly rational on the basis of resource management, costs or environmental considerations.

In addition, a sequencing requirement is introduced: the extraction area must be clarified in a decision under the Planning and Building Act before an operating license can be granted.

DMF has taken the initiative to establish a group consisting of representatives from industry, central authorities, representatives of Sami interests and various NGOs, in addition to DMF itself. The purpose of this is to ensure a knowledge base, ensure a common understanding and address bottlenecks in case processing early, so that faster case processing can be achieved.

Introduction of a single exclusive exploration permit

The current priority system will be replaced by a single exploration permit covering state-owned minerals, industrial minerals and light metals. Under the new system, one operator will be granted an exclusive exploration permit within a given area, to prevent conflicts over rights and ensure more effective use of mineral resources. The exploration permit will confer an extraction right to state-owned minerals if the requirement of economic viability is met. For industrial minerals and light metals, an extraction right also requires an agreement with the landowner. The new Minerals Act includes a transitional rule for exploration of industrial minerals and light metals started or planned before the new Act enters into force: for the first five years after entry into force, the landowner, or a party with an agreement with the landowner, may explore industrial minerals and light metals without an exploration permit.

The distinction between landowner's and state-owned minerals

The Minerals Act of 2009 is based on a distinction between state-owned minerals and landowner’s minerals. State-owned minerals are subject to the state’s property rights, while landowner’s minerals are subject to the landowner’s property rights. This distinction is to a large extent maintained in the new Minerals Act.

State-owned and landowner’s minerals can be mixed in a way that makes them separable only after extraction. Section 32 of the Minerals Act of 2009 provides that the holder of an extraction right to state-owned minerals may, as a general rule, extract landowner’s minerals to the extent necessary to extract state-owned minerals. This main rule is maintained in the new Minerals Act.

Utilization of landowner's minerals - limited to deposits that are not economically viable

Where composite deposits are extracted, the question arises as to who has the right to utilize the landowner’s minerals. Under Section 32 of the Minerals Act of 2009, the holder of an extraction right to state-owned minerals may utilize landowner’s minerals unless those deposits “can clearly be exploited independently”. This formulation is somewhat changed in the new Minerals Act. Under the new Minerals Act, the right to utilize landowner’s minerals is limited to deposits that are not economically viable. It is not necessarily straightforward to foresee the practical consequences of this change, but from a legal perspective, there are certainly significant nuances to be aware of.

NO requirement for landowner consent for exploration permits for state-owned minerals

The government initially proposed that DMF could grant exploration permits for state-owned minerals without the landowner’s consent. The Standing Committee on Business and Industry proposed the introduction of a consent requirement. This proposal received significant media attention and was heavily criticized for making exploration very difficult to carry out. The Norwegian Parliament did not follow up on the proposal. The new Minerals Act therefore does not require landowner consent to grant an exploration permit for state-owned minerals. However, anyone holding an exploration permit for state-owned minerals still needs access to the land, which can be obtained either through an agreement with the landowner or through expropriation.

Shorter duration of permits

Under the Minerals Act of 2009, exploration permits have a duration of seven years. The new Minerals Act shortens this. Under the new Minerals Act, exploration permits will be granted for three years, with the possibility of extensions in three-year periods up to a maximum of 15 years. The Minerals Law Commission proposed this change, and the Standing Committee on Business and Industry supported this. The aim is to kick-start more mineral projects in Norway and to facilitate for faster progress and more efficient exploration. Failure to carry out exploration, or carrying it out inadequately, should not prevent others from conducting exploration.

Increased focus on sustainability, national security and Sami rights

The new Minerals Act strengthens the focus on efficient and sustainable resource management. A key measure to ensure better oversight and use of resources is the introduction of a reporting obligation for extraction that primarily occurs as part of preparing an area for other uses.

The growing strategic and geopolitical importance of minerals—for example in renewable energy, digitalization and defense—justifies the Minerals Act’s new legal basis to set regulatory rules on national security related to mineral operations and resource management. Provisions on national security are not included in the draft regulation currently out for consultation.

The new Minerals Act also ensures that case processing and other governmental procedures under the Minerals Act comply with Norway’s international obligations and clarifies how these obligations are to be met. Protection of Sami rights is strengthened, including by extending the special rules on Sami matters from Finnmark to the entire traditional Sami area.

Draft regulation sent for consulatation

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Fisheries has prepared a draft regulation on mineral operations and the management of mineral resources, based on provisions in the new Minerals Act. The draft contains rules necessary for the new Minerals Act to take effect efficiently. This includes several important clarifications and elaborations, for example on the new Minerals Act’s requirements for exploration, test extraction, extraction rights and operations. The draft also includes new rules on remuneration and fees.

The draft regulation was sent out for consultation on 19 December 2025. The consultation deadline was 19 March 2026. The Ministry is now considering the consultation responses, and is, as we understand it, aiming for the regulation to enter into force on 1 July 2026, which is the same date as the new Minerals Act enters into force.

The draft regulation clarifies and elaborates several of the new Minerals Act's requirements:

• Requirements for responsible mineral operations: Section 2-1 of the new Minerals Act establishes a fundamental requirement that all mineral operations must be carried out responsibly. The draft regulation clarifies the meaning of responsible resource management and sets out overarching factors to be considered when assessing economic proportionality. It also requires the operator to continuously assess, maintain and develop competence within the business, and specifies four factors to be included in the business’s competence documentation.
• Digital case processing: DMF may require the use of digital forms and set formats for submissions. The regulation does not set detailed technical requirements, but DMF’s solutions must meet requirements for security and electronic communication.
• Supplementary requirements for application contents and operating plans: The draft sets out supplementary content and documentation requirements for applications for exploration permits, extraction rights, operating licences, specially announced exploration permits, extensions of test extraction permits, and for transfers of permits. Requirements for the content of operating plans are also clarified.
• Special announcements of exploration areas: Under the new Minerals Act, DMF may announce areas where exploration permits have expired without an extraction right being granted. The draft sets out some guidelines for the process, including an application deadline of three months and a requirement that applications be complete and contain an exploration plan.
• Duty to secure, clean up and restore: The draft contains supplementary rules on securing, cleanup and restoration when operations end. It also clarifies that cleanup must be carried out continuously and, as a general rule, after each completed phase of the work. The draft clarifies the form and scope of financial security and allows flexible arrangements (e.g., individual allocations to a fund). This largely codifies DMF’s current practice.
• Notification and reporting obligations: The draft sets deadlines and minimum content requirements for notices to DMF on the start of exploration of state-owned minerals and industrial minerals, and for notifications required under Section 6-1 of the new Minerals Act.
• Extensions of test extraction permits: The draft would allow DMF to extend the period for test extraction where unforeseen circumstances prevent completion within the set deadline.
• Reporting obligations: The draft contains several provisions that specify and elaborate the reporting obligations in Chapter 7 of the new Minerals Act, including requirements for reporting in-ground measurements, annual reporting and a final report on exploration, as well as the content of operations reports.
• Internal control and supervision: The draft sets minimum requirements for internal control and documentation related to securing, cleanup and restoration. Among other things, the operator must establish and implement internal control to ensure compliance with the obligations in Section 2-5 of the new Minerals Act, and the internal control must be adapted to the nature, scope and environmental impact of the operations. The draft also proposes codifying how the operator must document compliance with the competence requirement in Section 2-2 of the new Minerals Act.

New rules on remuneration and fees

The draft regulation introduces new and expanded processing fees (covering more application types than in 2009), with significantly increased rates to ensure full cost recovery for DMF. It also proposes fees for processing applications to transfer permits and for material changes to an exploration plan. Fees may be indexed to inflation.

Transitional rules

• The obligation to submit a final report under Section 7-2, second paragraph, of the new Minerals Act will also apply to exploration permits that expire in the first three years after the Act enters into force. The reporting requirements for operations under Section 7-3 of the new Minerals Act will also apply to operators who, after entry into force, hold operating licences under the Minerals Act of 2009 or older rules.
• Existing exploration rights and extraction rights will be subject to the notification and reporting obligations from the date the new Minerals Act enters into force, and DMF will, during a transitional period, forward notifications to the municipality, county municipality and County Governors.
• It is proposed that the reporting obligation under Section 7-4 for extraction that mainly occurs as part of preparing an area for other uses will not take effect until five years after the new Minerals Act enters into force. The Ministry sees a need for more extensive analysis of how this reporting obligation should be designed and of its economic and administrative consequences.
• The requirement for a special permit for exploration work in Finnmark under Section 17 of the Minerals Act of 2009 will apply for a transitional period of three years from the date the new Act enters into force.

Not covered by the draft regulation

The draft regulation does not include provisions on the authorities’ duty to coordinate, exceptions from licensing requirements, indigenous compensation, or detailed rules on national security. The Ministry will address these in separate processes, as these matters require further analysis.

Relationship to the EU's critical raw materials act

The EU’s Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA) was presented by the European Commission on 16 March 2023. The regulation has been adopted and entered into force in the EU on 23 May 2024. The CRMA requires the streamlining of national processes for granting permits to strategic projects in mineral extraction. The regulation also requires, among other things, risk assessments by large companies that use critical raw materials in the production of goods, and sets out labelling and recycling requirements for permanent magnets.

The CRMA requires national authorities to establish a single point of contact to receive applications, answer questions from stakeholders and make decisions. Permit processes for strategic projects must according to the regulation be carried out by the authorities “in the most rapid way as possible”. The regulation sets deadlines for the processing of permits for strategic projects, covering the entire process and the obtaining of all necessary permits—from start to finish. As far as we can see, these deadlines are in principle compatible with the proposed new Minerals Act, but meeting them in practice will require significant restructuring and higher efficiency.

Several CRMA provisions are applicable to strategic projects. To obtain status as a strategic project, a project must make a valuable contribution to the EU’s security of supply of minerals. Norway has deposits of a number of rare minerals, and we expect several Norwegian extraction projects could be classified as strategic projects under the regulation.

The CRMA has not been explicitly implemented in the new Minerals Act and is not currently in force in Norway. To become applicable in Norway, the regulation must be incorporated into the EEA Agreement and then implemented in Norwegian law. The government has stated that it will work to make the CRMA applicable in Norway. An overview of related documents and the latest updates can be found here.

THe EU Taxonomy and Mineral Extraction: status and practical implications

The EU Taxonomy establishes technical screening criteria for determining whether an economic activity qualifies as "environmentally sustainable". Mining was early on identified as an important sector for the green transition, but was not included in the first set of screening criteria due to the complexity of the issues involved.

On 1 April 2025, the Platform on Sustainable Finance published its final report, which included recommended screening criteria for, among other activities, mining and refining of critical minerals such as lithium, nickel and copper. However, the inclusion of new taxonomy activities has been identified as a separate workstream under the Platform's third mandate (2026–2027). The European Commission's ongoing work, including the Omnibus I package and the draft amendments to the Taxonomy published in March 2026, focuses initially on revising the criteria for existing activities.

The practical consequence is that mineral extraction projects cannot be classified as taxonomy-aligned, meaning that project developers cannot utilise taxonomy-based financing mechanisms such as the EU Green Bond Standard to finance extraction activities. An investment in mineral extraction can currently be classified neither as environmentally sustainable under the Taxonomy nor as a sustainable investment under the SFDR (Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation), even where the purpose is to produce raw materials for green technologies. Companies with activities that fall outside the Taxonomy may face greater difficulties in attracting investment, as investors increasingly prioritise businesses that meet sustainability criteria.

A number of alternative financing mechanisms have, however, emerged. The European Investment Bank has committed up to EUR 2 billion in financing for projects related to critical raw materials. Furthermore, the European Commission expects to mobilise approximately EUR 2 billion in additional investments in the period 2026–2027 through InvestEU, and in 2026 at least EUR 700 million will be made available from the Innovation Fund in a call dedicated to clean technology manufacturing and critical raw materials.

Please feel free to contact us for more information about the new Minerals Act and how we can assist with projects under development.