Blue Moon Metals Inc has announced several significant milestones towards advancing its Nussir copper-silver-gold project in the Hammerfest Municipality, Norway with the award of an engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contract for the project’s processing plant, the approval of the Waste Management Plan by the Norwegian Environment Agency, together with a corresponding update to the Project’s discharge permit; and finally the approval of the project’s updated mine operating plan from the Norwegian Directorate of Mines.
The Nussir life of mine (LOM) is 13 years with nominal mill throughput of 6,000 t per day. LOM average annual production will be 19,000 t of copper equivalent including an average of 3,600 oz of gold and 546,000 oz of silver.
Blue Moon has awarded MOMEK Services AS, a company within MOMEK Group, an EPC contract for the civil, structural, mechanical, and piping scope of the Nussir processing plant. The contract scope includes detailed design, construction of buildings, equipment foundations, structural steel, piping and pipe supports, and the balance of mechanical equipment not directly procured by Blue Moon, and installation of the company supplied equipment. The award is consistent with the execution plan set out in the April 2026 Feasibility Study on the project and advances the project towards full-scale construction and production in Q4 2027.
MOMEK Group is a leading Norwegian industrial group established in 1998, headquartered in Mo i Rana, with over 600 employees and annual revenue of approximately EUR 100 million. The group provides engineering, construction, mechanical installation, and fabrication services across the mining industry, oil and gas, renewable energy, and defence sectors, and holds ISO 9001, ISO 14001, and ISO 45001 certifications.
In Q2-2026 the Norwegian Environment Agency approved the Mine Waste Management Plan for the Nussir project, which included a public comment period, and issued an Amendment to the Discharge Permit (originally granted January 15, 2016, previously amended November 30, 2021) incorporating the latest Mine Waste Management Plan. The approval satisfies the last outstanding regulatory condition precedent to the commencement of mine operations of the Nussir mine.
The project holds all material permits for construction and operation, including an Extraction Permit under the Minerals Act, an approved Zoning Plan under the Planning and Building Act, a Discharge Permit under the Pollution Control Act, and an Operating License under the Minerals Act.
On June 18, 2026, the Norwegian Directorate of Mines approved the updated operating plan for Nussir mine as part of the operating licence awarded previously under the Minerals Act. The operating plan provides the technical details for operation and closure of the mine. In early June, underground development at Nussir exceeded the 2,000 m mark (over 1,000 m since January 2026). Additionally, the conveyor tunnel linking the decline to the orebody and the silo tunnel to feed the mill was completed, allowing construction of the ore conveyor system between the orebody and the silo to commence.
Christian Kargl-Simard, CEO of Blue Moon, stated: “The award of the EPC contract and the approval of our Waste Management Plan and updated operating plan represent three key milestones for the advancement of the Nussir Project. With our permitting framework now complete, our long-lead equipment on order, our mine decline advancing to the orebody, and our key construction contracts in place, we are on track to deliver production later in 2027.”
In April, Blue Moon published the project feasibility study which was completed by Worley Europe Ltd. At the same time the company said it had placed purchase orders for the long lead equipment required for the process plant (SAG mill, ball mill and thickeners). The company has also purchased the main power transformer for the project to de-risk project execution schedule.
The mining method used for the FS is Long Hole Open Stoping (LHOS) method with ribs and sill pillars to consistently sustain the production and mill throughput design rate. Required infrastructure to support the mine operation have been included in the design, including materials handling equipment. Trucking and mobile equipment have been optimised in the mine design along with implementation of conveyors for both crushed ore and waste.
Underground mobile crushers are utilised followed by a grinding circuit including a SAG mill and a ball mill located on surface prior to flotation. The flotation concentrate is filtered using a plate and frame pressure filter and stored in a storage warehouse prior to shipping through the existing and operational port and ship loaders.
Unlike plans under previous ownership that envisaged a primarily battery electric mining fleet, the mobile equipment fleet outlined in the FS consists of diesel-powered equipment. The drills (jumbo, bolter, production drill, raising drill and core drill) and the shotcrete sprayer will be electric-over-hydraulic. This means that they will move between work faces under diesel power with limited hydraulic functions and will connect to the mine power reticulation at a switch box when they reach the working face for full hydraulic function under electric power.
The fleet includes primary equipment for development, production and ground support installation. The basis for the mobile equipment fleet is the equipment currently being utilised (and planned to be utilised for future operations at Nussir) by the mining contractor, Leonard Nilsen & Sønner AS (LNS).
The trucks include four Epiroc MT42 S models. The specified LHDs in the FS are electric but cable tethered – namely three Sandvik LH514E units. The drills for development and production are primarily from Epiroc including a Boomer XE3; three to four Boomer E20S units; Boltec E10S/Easer E10 S and two Simba E70 S. Utility machines are mainly from Normet including Scamec, Spraymec, Charmec, Utimec and Variomec units. Additional equipment is mainly from Volvo and MacLean.