Olav Skalmeraas became Managing Director of Norge Mineraler 12 months ago, and what a year it’s been for the company with him at the helm. He has overall operations responsibility for the Eigersund project to develop three EU Critical Raw Materials (CRMs) – phosphate, vanadium and titanium. Here Olav explains why ESG provenance passports for the materials in end products, such as EV batteries, will become commonplace in the future.
Q: What’s been the biggest change at Norge Mineraler since you started as CEO in May 2023?
OS: We have matured as a company significantly, and we now havea much better definition of the project. We have initiated engagement with the local community on the chosen concept and we have seen much more interest and focus from the market. All will become even clearer when the pre-feasibility study is published in the third quarter, and we have an updated resource estimate. And we are starting the permitting planning process. This is democratic and at certain intervals we will engage with the community and various stakeholders.
Q. You mentioned focus from the market – in what way?
OS: The awareness of the vulnerability across industry regarding Critical Raw Material supply has become even more apparent; everyone is talking about supply security against the backdrop of the global energy and digital transitions. These need vast amounts of CRMs and if they’re not available to the market, then we will not see the changes we need in our energy systems and the digitalisation of our societies. I was recently invited to talk at a Nordic EV summit as a mineral extraction expert – that would have been unthinkable even a year ago. There’s greater understanding that we need materials from under the ground for products like solar panels and batteries – that, importantly, that can be recycled afterwards. This is the integrated value chain we are creating. And it’s now on everyone’s agenda.
Q. On the topic of circularity – will provenance passports become more important in determining the ESG characteristics of end products, like EV batteries, in the future?
OS: We believe that every product – such as an EV battery – will need an ESG provenance passport in the near future. Consumers can then see clearly what the environmental footprint has been to create what they’re buying – as well as the social impacts or benefits. For suppliers who are unable to provide a thorough history of emissions, their operations will lose competitiveness. This will be regulated by authorities, but the consumers will have the power.
Q. Will there increasingly be a competitive advantage for ESG products?
OS: There will be competitive advantage for those who are able to deliver robust ESG products. The CBAM is a good tangible example for adjusting for different CO2 emission between products produced in Europe and similar products imported to Europe.
Q. Norway has the concept of ‘cornerstone’ enterprises – what exactly is this concept and how does Norge Mineraler fit into it?
OS: A cornerstone enterprise in Norway relates to the size of operations vis-à-vis other operations in the same area. It drives society in regard to bringing income to the local municipality by employing a lot of people there. And then of course, there’s a ripple effect around that. As we are gearing up to be one of the biggest employers in the local region, we will become a cornerstone company. We take that responsibility very seriously.
