Photo: Torbjørn Johnsen

Cultural heritage

Coal mining has made its mark on the local environment of Longyearbyen and in the Svea mine. The old coal mines represent an important part of the cultural landscape and several of the unique mine structures have been protected as cultural memorials.

Store Norske is actively involved in a cooperation with different organisations, including the Governor of Svalbard, to safeguard this important piece of cultural heritage.

In the autumn of 2010, the Svalbard Governor's environmental conservation department published a plan describing the values to be protected and managed among the technical, industrial cultural memorials in Longyearbyen and surrounding area (pdf 12.7 MB, only in norwegian). The local committee in Longyearbyen and Store Norske have made contributions to this plan, which now forms the basis for Store Norske's protection measures for cultural memorials in the years to come.

Store Norske has also received invaluable assistance from the Svalbard Environmental Protection Fund during this process. In 2010, the Vinkelstasjonen in Endalen was restored with the help of financial subsidies from the Fund.

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Yes to Lunckefjell

Trond Giske, Norway’s Minister of Trade and Industry, announced on 22 December 2011 to the board of directors of Store Norske Spitsbergen Kulkompani that the Ministry of Trade and Industry has given the green light for the opening of a new coal mine at Lunckefjell. The announcement came as the Ministry of the Environment gave approvals for the project under the Svalbard Environmental Protection Act.

Last coal ship from Svea

The last coal ship for the year left Svea on Monday morning with 80,000 tonnes on board. The coal will be unloaded in Esbjerg in Denmark and in Immingham in England.