12 proposals for "Green Mining" at the Fen complex have been made public

The competition to design a vision for a "green mineral park" at the Fen complex has received 12 proposals. The proposals, now public, challenge traditional mining by focusing on sustainability, circular economy principles, and landscape changes.

The Fen complex in Nome holds Europe's largest deposit of rare-earth elements, which are minerals crucial for modern technology and the green transition. The extraction of these minerals has major geopolitical significance in reducing Europe's dependence on China. Europan 18, therefore, gave young architects, landscape architects, and urban planners the speculative task of designing concepts for a "green mineral park" and how it can be sustainably integrated into the landscape.

The 12 proposals present a range of visions for what a "green mineral park" could be, with a focus on how such an industrial mining operation can be organized and run to be as circular and sustainable as possible.

"This is an exciting project with enormous potential for Nome, Norway, and all of Europe. Europan has given us a repository of ideas with possible visions for a more sustainable extraction at the Fensfeltet site," says Kirsti Arvesen Nesheim, Head of the Fen Complex project and Municipal Planning.

"We are looking for groundbreaking solutions for a mineral park, not a traditional mine. The proposals from Europan 18 challenge us to think differently about what a mine can be, both in terms of organization, operation, waste, and landscape transformations," Kirsti adds.

The process is now entering an exciting judging phase. A star-studded international jury visited Trondheim this week to begin the selection. The jury consists of Magnus Waage, Kotchakorn Voraakhom, Jens Richter, Siri Lundestad, Rainer Stange, Therese Øijord Rustad, and Mansoor Hussain. Read more about the jury here.

All proposals will be featured in a public exhibition in the foyer of the Ulefoss samfunnshus from September 11 to November 25 (note that the exhibition will be temporarily taken down for events in the foyer).

The winning projects will be announced on November 17 during an international conference in Portugal. The winning teams will receive a prize of 12,000 euros, while the second-place team will receive 6,000 euros. Additionally, there will be a follow-up assignment to further develop the ideas.