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– We are experiencing great interest in rights. We have talks with companies based in China and Russia.
This is what retired lawyer Erling Lyngtveit says. Represents the company that owns the rights to extract minerals and rocks at Austre Adventfjord in Svalbard.
“It’s the only one of these types of rights in Arctic regions around the world that is for sale,” he says.
The last time you were involved in Austre Adventfjord, you were not retired.
The state then raised NOK 300 million to buy the Austre Adventfjord property from the Horn family that Lyngtveit represented.
He says the state was only interested in buying the Horn family property in Svalbard after Russian and Chinese companies showed interest.
– The family had previously tried to sell the property to the state for a much smaller amount. It was only a handful of millions, but then they weren’t interested, says Lyngtveit.
Austre Adventfjord is located near Longyearbyen and is a popular hiking area.
For sale again
In Svalbard, you can obtain your own rights to extract minerals, regardless of who owns the property. Today it is called the right of extraction, but before it was called objective.
When the state bought the Austre Adventfjord property, it did not acquire the rights to extract minerals in the area. It is now for sale from Austre Adventfjord AS.
And again, the state has said no, but the Russian and Chinese actors are interested.
Will history repeat itself?
– Real to offer
The retired lawyer says they had a meeting with a representative from the Ministry of Commerce and Industry a couple of weeks ago. There they were informed that they were going to sell, that they had various stakeholders, and they offered the state to buy.
– Is this an attempt to convince the state to buy like last time?
– We believe that the most real thing is to make an offer to the state to see if they are interested. If not, we must assume that they think it is okay for these rights to be sold to foreign interests, says Lyngtveit.
– We do not want to take into account that we have stopped offering these rights to the state, he says.
Great power play
Arild Moe is a professor at the Fridtjof Nansen Institute and has been researching Svalbard for several decades.
He says Norway is concerned to highlight that Svalbard is Norwegian and not international, as many around the world believe.
– When it comes to other Svalbard states, it’s mostly about acting as a precaution. If there are more states that, through their companies, achieve a permanent presence in Svalbard, it could challenge the Norwegian exercise of sovereignty, he says.
The fact that Svalbard is Norwegian is not in question, but the implementation of Norwegian laws and regulations in the archipelago can be put into practice, says the researcher.
– In recent times, Russia has questioned the legislation on nature conservation in particular. They believe that the rules place restrictions on their ability to do business. Restrictions on the use of helicopters are also a problem for Russia, he says.
It won’t be worth it
Store Norske has run a mining company in Svalbard for over 100 years. The state company operates the last Norwegian-owned mine in Svalbard. Store Norske director Jan Morten Ertsaas politely refused to buy the rights.
– We have our own resources in the same area that we consider best, write in a text message to NRK.
Furthermore, they do not believe in the profitability of a project of this type.
– We are aware that it is very difficult to achieve profitability in coal mining based on current prices and framework conditions, writes the director.
The Svalbard researcher also does not foresee that running a mining business in Austre Adventfjord could be profitable.
– One may wonder if some of the political reasons will want to have a business of this type even if it does not become profitable, but it is pure speculation, he says.
He believes that countries that want to stand out in Svalbard have other, cheaper methods.
– Running a research station that also has legitimate intentions is a much cheaper solution, he says.
Researcher Arild Moe says no one wants to start a new coal mine in Svalbard today just to show their flag.
Photo: Private
The company representative will say nothing more about the status of the rights negotiations.
– How far are we going in the negotiations, there are trade secrets. We are not naive enough to open all letters openly to all negotiating partners, he says.
The press officer for the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Erika A Vartdal, writes in an email to NRK demanding to anticipate that the state will pursue targets in Svalbard.
– The state bought the land in Austre Adventfjord in 2017, among other things due to the property’s proximity to Longyearbyen, writes in an email to NRK.
– We take all inquiries very seriously. At the moment, we have nothing more to add in the case, he writes.
