What is the biggest mine in Norway?
Kongsberg Silver Mines
The silver mines of Kongsberg, in Buskerud county in Norway, constitute the largest mining field in Norway, with over 80 different mines. It was the largest pre-industrial working place in Norway, with over 4,000 workers at its peak in the 1770s and supplied over 10% of the gross national product of the Danish–Norwegian union during its 335-year-long history: over 450,000 man-years were expended in the production.
Indre Wijdefjorden National Park
Traditionally, the mining industry in Svalbard has had more rights to operations within protected areas than in mainland Norway, where all such activities would be completely banned. Indre Wijdefjorden has the most strict regulations, with a total ban on construction of buildings and facilities, laying of cables and roads, earthwork, drainage, drilling, blasting, and excavation of petroleum, gas and minerals. It is the authorities' goal that Svalbard is to be one of the best-managed wilderness areas in the world. Svalbard, and thus the national park, is on Norway's tentative list for nomination as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.