Norwegian Police Remove Environmental Activists Protesting Nordic Mining at Førdefjorden

Police removed environmental demonstrators from Nordic Mining’s Engebøfjellet facility at Førdefjorden on Sunday, October 4, 2026, after activists blocked the company’s ore transport system. vg.no reported that the intervention followed a three-day protest against the Norwegian government’s decision to grant the mining company a new waste disposal permit for the fjord.

Police Clear Activists From Transport Bridge

Activists from the organization Natur og Ungdom occupied a bridge near Nordic Mining’s transport conveyor starting Saturday morning, placing themselves within a safety zone that forced the company to halt the supply of ore from the mountain to the processing plant. Vest politidistrikt deployed officers on Sunday afternoon to clear the site after the demonstrators refused requests to leave voluntarily. Nordic Mining has asked the police to remove demonstrators who are hindering operations, incident commander Erik Sjødahl told NTB, as reported by vg.no. What the police have done now is that we have removed a couple of demonstrators who were an obstacle to operations. Sjødahl stated that the removed individuals face criminal reports and a fine of 10,000 kroner.

Conflicting Accounts Over Facility Access

Firdaposten reported that Natur og Ungdom claimed two activists had been locked inside the facility by company leadership Sunday morning. Nordic Mining rejected this allegation. Company communications manager Tone Løtuft told Firdaposten that the activists had not been penned in. Meanwhile, Firda reported that Nordic Mining had requested the removal of the conveyor-belt demonstrators a day prior, characterizing that phase of the protest as an unauthorized intrusion.

Activists Block Conveyor Belt After Waste Permit Approval

The latest police action followed the government’s decision on Wednesday to approve Nordic Mining’s application to deposit 4.5 million tons of mining waste in Førdefjorden over a period of at least three years. Adressa.no noted that despite the Sunday afternoon clearances, new activists climbed back onto the conveyor belt to halt operations and waste dumping. This is an important point for us to block, because there will be no supply of more that can be dumped illegally in Førdefjorden, central board member Brage Bøe Ulstein told adressa.no. The underlying dispute stems from a Supreme Court ruling in June, which found an older, larger permit allowing up to 170 million tons of waste disposal to be invalid. Following that legal defeat, Nordic Mining submitted a revised application for a smaller volume, which the Norwegian Environment Agency recommended for approval in mid-August.

Environmental Groups Challenge Mining Sludge Deposition in Court

Engebø Rutil and Garnet AS, a subsidiary of Nordic Mining, operates the extraction site in the mountain and pumps mining sludge into deep water in Førdefjorden. Environmental organizations previously challenged the state in court in 2022 to halt the fjordside tailings deposition entirely.