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Blue Moon Metals: Norway finds No-way to dump in Fjords

On August 27, 2026, Norway admitted the rules underpinning Nussir are being rewritten.

September 8, 2026 – Norway's Environment Ministry admits it is delinquent in adopting the Water Framework Directive (WFD) in relation to the permitting of tailings in fjords, as amendments were postponed pending the Supreme Court’s judgment on Engebø. The consequence of the adoption of the WFD, in line with the Engebø judgment, will lead to the revocation – or substantial reduction – of Nussir’s ability to dump waste in the fjord, making Nussir financially unviable.

  • Norway now admits its own permitting guidance is wrong – The Ministry has accepted two central passages need correcting to reflect the 2015 Weser deterioration test, but Nussir's January 2016 permit was decided using the outdated standard the Ministry itself now says was unclear.

  • Blue Moon's own financing isn’t set in stone like management suggests – The $140m package announced in August 2025 remains largely non-binding and conditional; the company missed its own March 31, 2026 deadline for key facilities to become drawable, and has never disclosed whether that deadline was waived, extended or simply dropped.

  • Every version of "fixing" the disposal plan still fails – Shrinking the dump, the disposal area, or the permit term doesn't avoid the legal exposure. All would require a fresh, defensible environmental assessment that Blue Moon has never disclosed, and Norway's letter provides no version of one.

  • This has already happened next door – At Engebø, the same unresolved permitting question has already tipped Nordic Mining into distressed, bankruptcy-priced financing. Blue Moon is funding Nussir's construction with its hands over its eyes.

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