NYKOS - New Knowledge on Sea Deposits

Mining in Norway is currently in a phase of increased growth and subject to new environmental regulations. Many mines are particularly challenged by waste management, as they often produce large quantities of mineral waste rock and tailings from mineral processing during resource extraction, and lie amongst rugged terrain situated close to highly productive fjords. To overcome problems associated with deposition of mineral waste produced, many mines place their tailings at the seafloor of fjords as submarine tailings placements (STPs). While the practice is not common world-wide, STPs are common in Norway and 33 sites have so far been identified of which 6 are active today. STP management is a major source of conflict between the mining industry and local and national stakeholders. Best available techniques should be used to ensure that the environmental impacts from STPs are reduced to an absolute minimum (i.e. by applying the best available technologies (BAT), and that ecosystems are given the chance to recover as quickly as possible following the closure of mines. The aim for the NYKOS project is to increase the understanding of how best to dispose of mine tailings in the marine environment, how to monitor the deposits through time, what ecosystem impacts do they have and how to ensure that fjord systems recover as quickly as possible after a mine closes down. This project will provide increased knowledge through 6 work packages that will contribute to environmentally sustainable tailings deposition for the mining industry.For the period up to the end of May 2019, the NYKOS activities have been carried out according to plan. In relation to the economy, the project has a sub-coverage due to a lack of cash financing from start, in addition to Sydvaranger going bankrupt in 2015. These challenges have continously been worked with, in order to be solved during the project, but unfortunately we have not reached the goal. Resources will now be used to find a solution that will ensure a good completion of the project up to the end date, September 1, 2019. We have achieved a financial solution through increased cash financing from the industrial partners and by that the research partners have taken their relative share of the underwriting, in addition to ensuring the necessary completion of all activities in the project. In this way, we have ensured that all planned deliveries in the project will be carried out satisfactorily. The project partners are very satisfied with this final solution.

Det er gjennomført en rekke undersøkelser som har medført ny kunnskap om sjødeponi. Den nye kunnskapen vil ha betydning for alle deltakere, men er av særlig betydning for bedriftene for å kunne minimere negative effekter fra deponering av avgangs-materialer fra gruvevirksomhet til sjø.

Mining in Norway is currently in a phase of increased growth and subject to new environmental laws. Many mines are particularly challenged by waste management, as they often produce large quantities of mineral waste (surplus rock from mining and concentra tor tailings) during resource extraction, and lie amongst rugged terrain situated close to highly productive fjords. To overcome problems associated with deposition of mineral waste produced, many mines place their concentrator tailings at the seafloor o f fjords as submarine tailings placements (STPs). While the practice is not common world wide, STPs are common in Norway and 33 sites have so far been identified of which 6 are active today. STP management is a major source of conflict between the mining industry and local and national stakeholders. If mining is to continue and prosper in Norway, it must be done using techniques that ensure that the environmental impacts from STPs are reduced to an absolute minimum by applying the best available technol ogies (BAT), and that ecosystems are given every chance to recover as quickly as possible following the closure of mines. However, we still have only a limited understanding of how best to dispose of mine tailings in the marine environment, how to monito r the deposits through time, what ecosystem impacts do they have and how to ensure that fjord systems recover as quickly as possible after a mine closes down. KPN NYKOS will be managed and carried out by SINTEF, NIVA, NTNU, NGU and UIT as the main re search institutes working on STP's in Norway today. The project will further work in close cooperation with other important national and international research partners and authoroties, of particular intereset is a parallell STP project in Chile, and wil l provide many of the answers to these unanswered questions, and thereby lead to environmentally sustainable development throughout the mining industry in Norway and in other countries practicing STP.