Hoping for gold rush on Svalbard
The company Store Norske Gull is preparing to drill for gold on the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard after successful geological surveys.
After two weeks of geological surveys, the company is believes that the possibilities for finding profitable gold deposits are very good, newspaper Svalbardposten reports.
Store Norske Gull is a daughter company of the Store Norske Group, who operates Norwegian coal production on Svalbard.
The final results from the surveys will only be ready in a month’s time, but the company has already applied to the Governor of Svalbard for permit to bring drilling equipment to St. Jonsfjord on the western coast of the island Spitsbergen. If a permission start drilling is given, the company plans to start the operation next spring.
Meanwhile, the Governor of Svalbard has refused to consider an application only for temporary placement of equipment, and has asked Store Norske to send an application covering the whole operation.
- This is such a big operation that we might need to conduct an environmental impact assessment, says Head of the Environmental Department by the governor’s office Per Kyrre Reymert to Svalbardposten.
