Cool coal's prospects hot up

A Norwegian company mining coal on the Arctic island of Spitsbergen says it plans to increase production.

Spurning campaigners' protests, it says the coal is a better option for Europe than more distant supplies.

It expects a road will be built through an untouched wilderness to help its operations.

And it has found "overwhelmingly rich" deposits of Arctic gold, which it is considering exploiting.

The development plans were disclosed to BBC News Online in an interview with Robert Hermansen, the general manager of the company, Store Norske Kulkompani (SNSK).

He was speaking at the firm's offices in Longyearbyen, the administrative capital of Svalbard, the archipelago of which Spitsbergen is the biggest island. It lies about half way between the Norwegian mainland and the North Pole.

'Better all round'

Mr Hermansen said the coal mined at Svea Nord, about 60 kilometres (38 miles) from Longyearbyen, which began production in 2001, was of high calorific value.

"It gives 7,700 kilocalories per kilo, while normal coal is only about 6,500," he said. "So you burn less of our coal for a given result.

"It produces much less ash and volatile fractions. It has much less methane than normal pits, so it's far safer for the miners. We're drilling around Svea and hope to have another mine open within three years.

"Europe imports about 160 million tonnes of coal a year, much of it from Australia and South Africa.

"The fuel to transport one million tonnes from Australia emits 75,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide, the main gas thought to be contributing to climate change.

"Shipping one million tonnes of Svalbard coal to our customers in Denmark and Germany emits only 15,000 tonnes. And to cap it all, our mine is almost at the port."

From the Svea Nord pithead to the loading wharf is 10 km (6 miles). The coal goes by road now, but SNSK is building a tunnel to take it to the ships on a conveyor belt.

Russian precedent

The miners are flown in from Longyearbyen, and stay for less than a week before going home to Longyearbyen. Many want a road built, to let them commute to work daily in about 30 minutes.

SNSK's website says the company has abandoned plans for a road: "The road issue is no longer on the company's agenda, and a road to Svea is not a precondition for running a profitable and durable mining operation at Svea Nord."

Mr Hermansen said SNSK was not going to build a road. But he thought the Russian settlement further west in Barentsburg would be allowed to build one to a planned new mine.

"The Russians will get their road, so the Sysselmann (governor) of Svalbard will have to do the same with us," he told BBC News Online.

Golden west

Oystein Overrein, a nature adviser in the Sysselmann's office, told BBC News Online: "The Norwegian Parliament and the environment ministry in Oslo say there won't be a road from Longyearbyen to Svea.

"It would fragment the wilderness, going straight through some pristine valleys."

Mr Hermansen said SNSK was also considering mining "a very promising gold deposit" near Ny-Alesund on Spitsbergen's west coast.

It is the first gold found in Svalbard. Mr Hermansen told BBC News Online: "We've found 10-80 grammes per tonne in the soil. We'd never expected anything like that.

"It's by far the richest I've come across. We won't use chemical separation to get the gold, but if we can get it by crushing the ore, all well and good."