The proposal concerns land-based mineral activities and will replace the current Act as of 2009. One of the main objectives of the proposal is to improve and simplify the law to best contribute to the government’s economic policy goal, which is maximizing overall value creation in the Norwegian economy. The proposal includes several measures to make application processes more efficient and better coordinated with other regulations. However, the proposal does not contain any fast track for critical minerals as defined in the Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA) already in force within the EU in May 2024. It may be noted that the government has issued a separate news release on 28 March 2025 stating that CRMA is in line with Norwegian interests and that the government will work towards an incorporation of the CRMA into the EEA agreement.
Some highlights from the proposal:
- The distinction between State-owned and landowner minerals is continued.
- The current priority system for exploration permits in respect of State-owned minerals is abolished and instead an exclusive exploration permit for State owned minerals, industrial minerals and light metals is introduced. The current system allows multiple exploration rights in the same area with different priorities, but the new proposal will limit this to one license holder per area. This change gives raise to several transitional rules such as:
- It will no longer be possible to be registered on a «waiting list» to move up if a preceding exploration right is relinquished. The Ministry considers that rights holders who have obtained an exploration right with second priority or lower should not immediately lose this right upon the introduction of the new mineral law. A transitional period of three years from the law’s entry into force is proposed, during which rights holders with lower priority will move up if someone with better priority loses or relinquishes the right.
- Seven years is the general duration of an exploration right with first priority under the 2009 Mineral Act, while an exploration permit under the proposed bill is valid for only three years however with the possibility of extensions. The Ministry proposes a transitional period that causes exploration rights that do not have first priority when the law comes into force to lapse after three years if first priority is not achieved within that time.
- Furthermore, the Ministry proposes that an entity that has an agreement with a landowner in respect of landowner’s minerals can conduct exploration activities on industrial minerals and light metals without the requirement for an exploration permit in areas with ongoing or planned operations on industrial minerals or light metals for the first five years after the law’s entry into force.
- In comparison to the current Minerals Act, new reporting requirements are introduced for geophysical surveys and other measuring methods to identify potential mineral deposits in the ground.
- For extractions with an operating license under the 2009 Minerals Act, the requirements and conditions imposed under the current Act will not differ significantly from the rules on operating licenses in the bill. The Ministry considers that there is no need to require entities with an operating license under the 2009 Act to apply for a new license. However, the bill contains rules on the revision of operating licenses and mining plans as in the present Minerals Act.
- The protection of Sami rights holders is strengthened by extending the scope of application of special rules on Sami matters from Finnmark to the entire traditional Sami area. Consequently, the additional fee of 0.25 % percent related to Finnmark is introduced to all traditional Sami areas. The fee will no longer be administered by the Finnmark Estate. Instead, 75 % of the amount will be given to the affected siidas while the remaining 25 % will be distributed by the Ministry to other affected Sami people.
- In contrast to the Law Committee, the government does not propose a requirement for an agreement for mineral activities that involve a «significant violation» on Sami rights of use. In the Ministry’s view general rules and case law is sufficient
- The bill contains no rules to safeguard national security interests in mineral projects as this needs to be examined further. However, the bill provides the authority to lay down potential measures in regulations to safeguard national security.