Images taken from the Nussir protests in 2025. Source: Natur Og Ungdom
On 16 August 2025, Kornelia Kristensen was preparing to spend her 63rd day outside the Nussir copper mine on the Repparfjord in northern Norway. She – along with hundreds of other environmental activists from across the country – had been protesting the mine's construction since 15 June, in a bid to prevent damage to land used by Sámi reindeer herders and fishers.
As a Sámi herself, she understood how important these traditions were. "I don't think people realize how much effort it takes to keep a culture – one that was actively attempted to be erased – alive," Kornelia says. From the late 1800s through the mid-1900s, the Norwegian government pursued an aggressive "Norwegianization" policy, suppressing Sámi language, culture and land rights to forcibly assimilate them. The damage to both Sámi identity and land was immense.
"Major negative consequences."
Despite this history, mining projects like Nussir have still been given permits with little to no consultation with the Sámi population. Nussir, acquired by Canadian company Blue Moon Metals in February 2025, is set to dump over two million tonnes of waste[1] material per year (30 million in total) into the Repparfjord. Norway's own assessments found the disposal would degrade the fjord's ecological status significantly: one section, Repparfjorden indre, from moderate to poor; another, Repparfjorden ytre, from good to poor.[2]
The damage may not be new. A 2026 study by researchers at Norway's Institute of Marine Research found that haddock caught near an older, much smaller mining deposit in Repparfjorden – used briefly in the 1970s – still carried elevated levels of lead, chromium, arsenic and other heavy metals, forty years after dumping stopped[3]. The Institute itself had formally opposed the original 2012 permit application, warning that "heavy metal pollution from copper alone would be enough to advise against granting a discharge permit." In its own 2016 application, Blue Moon acknowledged that land-based disposal would cause "major negative consequences... especially for reindeer husbandry in the area" – leaving sea disposal as the only option the company says it pursued.
That brings us to 16 August. As Kornelia and dozens of other activists gathered outside the mine, police soon arrived to escort them from the premises. They were used to this – they often refused to leave on their own accord and were bundled into the back of vans and escorted to a nearby town. As usual, Kornelia and roughly 20 others were placed into the back of vehicles and driven in an unknown direction – no information given about where they were being taken.
"They were treading on her clothes, and they left her with bruises."
Images taken from the Nussir protests in 2025. Source: Natur Og Ungdom
After about 15 minutes of winding roads, they came to a halt. The van's doors swung open, and a police officer instructed the young activists to get out of the vehicle. He pointed to a steep hill, leading into a forest. "You must go down there," he barked. Kornelia was perplexed. Despite the warm weather, it had been raining heavily that week; the hill had now transformed into a dangerous mudslide. While she was fit and healthy, others in the group suffered from chronic illness and would struggle to face such treacherous ground. "There was a different way to walk down the road instead, but [the police] said we couldn't walk down the road," Kornelia tells me. "They were like, 'No, you have to go through the forest.' And none of us knew the way through the forest. We had people that got lost for hours."
This was not an isolated incident. "I've been quite lucky," Kornelia says, explaining she has friends who have had their Gakti – traditional Sámi clothing – "ripped" after being manhandled by police at protests at Nussir. "They were treading on her clothes, and they left her with bruises."
We asked the Hammerfest Police about these incidents. The Assistant Chief of Police in Finnmark, Morten Daae, said he does "not recognise the description that has been presented." He continued:
"Police removed a number of demonstrators on 16th August 2025. All individuals were transported to the nearest parking area outside the industrial estate adjacent to the main road. The removal of the demonstrators was carried out in a calm and respectful manner. All individuals were offered the opportunity to leave the area voluntarily and under their own power. Those who declined to do so were required to be physically removed from the site. In such cases, the police used a lifting sling and calmly carried each individual away, one at a time."
As a result of their protesting, dozens of activists have been detained and fined for refusing police orders to leave the site – cumulative fines across the movement reportedly reached around 800,000 NOK (roughly $75,000) by September 2025. In April this year, 45 were formally charged, with five trials scheduled to take place over the next 12 months. The first trial took place on 25 June, with 14 defendants – including Kornelia – convicted and ordered to pay over $19,000 in fines.[4]
Images taken from the Nussir protests in 2025. Source: Natur Og Ungdom
Kornelia is now appealing her conviction. Her appeal comes at a good time: following a landmark ruling against a similar mine, the legal ground beneath Nussir's own permit is now shaky. In June this year, the Supreme Court ruled that Engebø – a mining project in west Norway – was no longer allowed to dump its waste materials into a nearby fjord.[5]
Originally, it was given permission to do so by the Norwegian government on the basis that the environmental damage was outweighed by the "public interest" of the economic benefits of mining. This, the Supreme Court ruled, did not meet the legal threshold required – and broke EU law.
Nussir's waste disposal permit rests on the same legal justification as Engebø's, and in April this year the EFTA Surveillance Authority issued a formal notice stating Norway acted unlawfully "by authorising" the disposal of Nussir's mining waste in the Repparfjord[6]. Norway's Supreme Court has form on this question: in 2021, it ruled that wind farms built on the Fosen peninsula violated Sámi reindeer herders' rights under international law – even after the turbines were already built and operating, and even though the developer had paid compensation.[7]
"It wasn't really a choice for me to just watch this mine erase my culture."
If, like Engebø, Nussir loses its permit, the mine will be unable to continue development and begin mining in 2027. The stakes of that uncertainty are being carried very differently by different parties. Nussir ASA's own loan agreement with its lenders, Hartree Partners and Oaktree, treats any threat to its permits as grounds for immediate default, with no grace period.
Despite this, it is unclear whether a new ruling against Nussir's permit will have any impact on the conviction of protestors like Kornelia. "It wasn't really a choice for me to just watch this [mine] erase my culture," she says of her activism, alluding to the unjust nature of her prosecution now the legal ground Nussir stands on has become unstable.
"[Me and the other convicted activists] are now trying to get into jobs, or into universities, and you can't with [a conviction] on your record," she says. "It's extremely difficult."
Have any information about this story? Email [email protected]
[1] www.culturalsurvival.org/news/sami-people-oppose-copper-mine-norway
[2]www.eftasurv.int/cms/sites/default/files/documents/gopro/Case%2086194%20College%20Decision%2008126COL%20-%20Letter%20of%20formal%20notice%20-%20Norway%20-%20Incorrect%20and%20incomplete%20implementation%20a.pdf
[3] www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304389425039305?via%3Dihub
[4] www.nrk.no/sapmi/45-nussir-aksjonister-ma-mote-i-retten_-sara-marielle-nekter-a-gi-seg-1.17840223
[5] news.cision.com/nordic-mining-asa/r/nordic-mining-asa--the-norwegian-state-loses-appeal-case-against-ngos,c4365255
[6] www.eftasurv.int/cms/sites/default/files/documents/gopro/Case%2086194%20College%20Decision%2008126COL%20-%20Letter%20of%20formal%20notice%20-%20Norway%20-%20Incorrect%20and%20incomplete%20implementation%20a.pdf
[7] www.domstol.no/en/supremecourt/rulings/2021/supreme-court-civil-cases/hr-2021-1975-s/
Be the first to hear about our research & news
