Nordic Mining in crisis

The Bergen / Vestland news of the past 48 hours: Nordic Mining is negotiating a refinancing to avoid bankruptcy, demand for Norwegian wool is rising while the number of sheep is declining in Sunnfjord, and a peat bog in Sveio could produce significant greenhouse gas emissions. These issues affect the economy, agriculture and the environment of Vestland county. Local news briefs are grouped at the end of the article.

Bergen / Vestland news: Nordic Mining seeks refinancing

The mining group Nordic Mining is going through an acute financial crisis (NRK Bergen / Vestland). The chair of the board, Kjell Roland, tells E24 that the company is not bankrupt but that it has explained its situation to the market (NRK Bergen / Vestland). Equipment problems and the Supreme Court's invalidation of the discharge permit in the Førdefjorden have worsened the difficulties (NRK Bergen / Vestland). The Førdefjorden is located in Vestland county.

The company is seeking to avoid either bankruptcy or a sale (NRK Bergen / Vestland). It is negotiating a refinancing with its existing lenders and expects clarification shortly (NRK Bergen / Vestland). According to NRK, the company has little cash on hand. This economic story is among the Bergen / Vestland news for this Monday (NRK Bergen / Vestland).

Norwegian wool in demand, but fewer sheep in Vestland

In Vestland, at Viksdalen in Sunnfjord, Erlend Fossen shears his sheep by hand (NRK Bergen / Vestland). He shears around 1500 sheep per season and is vice-chair of the local branch Sogn og Fjordane Sau og Geit (NRK Bergen / Vestland). He has been doing this work for 20 years (NRK Bergen / Vestland).

Towards the turn of the millennium, 7000 to 8000 sheep were on the pastures of Viksdalen; today, there are fewer than 3000 (NRK Bergen / Vestland). Fossen believes that the economy and food production constraints explain this decline (NRK Bergen / Vestland). Yet interest in Norwegian wool has grown in recent years (NRK Bergen / Vestland). The contrast is stark in a county where sheep farming remains a structuring activity.

In Sveio, a peat bog deeper than expected

At Ekrene, in the municipality of Sveio, in southern Vestland, local politician Olav Østebø Olsen (SV) drove a steel rod into a peat bog (NRK Bergen / Vestland). The municipality wants to develop a business park there; the decision states that the peat bog is one metre deep (NRK Bergen / Vestland). Ground-penetrating radar measurements show that it reaches four to five metres at its deepest points (NRK Bergen / Vestland).

Construction would lead to significant greenhouse gas emissions and would affect fauna and flora (NRK Bergen / Vestland). The large peat bog complex is not mapped under the Biodiversity Act (NRK Bergen / Vestland). Olsen says he is worried about what lives here that we do not know (NRK Bergen / Vestland). The government has given clear signals to sharply reduce the destruction of peat bogs (NRK Bergen / Vestland).

📌 Local briefs

In Bergen, four people were arrested and charged with deprivation of liberty and violence; one was released after questioning, three remained in custody on Sunday evening (NRK Bergen / Vestland). Police say a man is believed to have been held in an apartment for some time and exposed to violence from several people; the investigation is at an early stage (NRK Bergen / Vestland).

Police dog Scott played a central role in uncovering a major illegal "pharmacy": a 190-gram undelivered letter of hashish and DNA traces led to a man from Sunnfjord in his twenties (NRK Bergen / Vestland). At an address outside Oslo, police found more than 420,000 kroner, 54 kilos of hashish, more than 500,000 narcotic tablets and other products; the man is charged with a serious drug offence and faces three to fifteen years in prison (NRK Bergen / Vestland).

Sources: NRK Bergen / Vestland, Bergens Tidende, The Local Norway — Period: 18 October 2026 and 19 October 2026