Norway to close last coal mine in 2023

Norway's state owned coal company said it would close its last mine, Mine 7, in the Arctic Svalbard archipelago in 2023, ending 120 years of exploitation and losing 80 industrial jobs.

“On Tuesday 15 September, the Longyearbyen local council decided to close down the current coal-fired power plant by the autumn of 2023. The city will then temporarily switch to diesel, before a permanent, new renewable energy solution is in place. Store Norske has now received termination from the local board of the delivery agreement, which sets an end date of 25 September 2023,” said Store Norske Spitsbergen Kullkompani (SNSK) in a statement. 

"Now that the contract to supply the power plant has been terminated there will no longer be a basis for operating the mine," Chief Executive Morten Dyrstad said in a statement.

The company said that in the next two years they will take out the coal that is ready for production. Explaining that this means that they will increase the annual production from around 90,000 tonnes to over 125,000.