Norway closer to initiating its commercial deep sea mining industry

[JohnS]

This month, Norway's parliament voted to open its waters for exploration. This comes a year after it was reported that Norway had discovered a huge trove of metals, minerals and rare earths on its seabed. The decision has sparked opposition from groups such as Greenpeace, scientists and other European countries concerned about the impact of deep sea mining on the environment.

So why all the fuss? Quite simply, the reliance upon China for Rare Earth minerals (They produce around 80% of the world's supply, followed by Australia with 15%) has meant that countries such as Norway would like to independently manage their energy needs for the future, especially as demand for certain high-technology equipment such as smart phones, digital cameras, computer parts, semiconductors, etc. and renewable energy technology, electric vehicle batteries and military equipment is predicted to double by 2040 to 2050. The article below provides more information on the current situation...

Norway parliament approves highly controversial deep sea mining

By Laura Paddison, CNN

Published 10:25 AM EST, Tue January 9, 2024

 

A seal near Svalbard, in the Arctic Ocean in Norway on July 18, 2022. Environmental groups warn that Norway's decision to push ahead with deep sea mining presents a threat to marine life in this region.

CNN  —  Norway could become the first country in the world to push ahead with deep sea mining after it voted Tuesday to open its waters for exploration, provoking an outcry from environmental groups.

In a major step towards kicking off commercial deep sea mining, the country’s parliament formally agreed to allow the exploration of around 108,000 square miles of Arctic seabed, an area bigger than the United Kingdom, between Norway and Greenland.

The decision was taken despite mounting concern from scientists, politicians and environmental groups about the potential damage deep sea mining could inflict on marine life. “It’s a huge step in the wrong direction,” Frode Pleym, head of Greenpeace Norway, told CNN.

The deep ocean, one of the world’s last untouched habitats, has long been eyed for its vast trove of resources — including copper, cobalt, zinc and gold — which are needed for the green economy, used in everything from wind turbines to electric vehicle batteries.

A Norwegian study last year found a “substantial” amount of metals and minerals on the seabed of the country’s extended continental shelf.

Proponents of deep sea mining argue that extracting these raw materials from beneath the ocean will allow a faster transition to a low-carbon economy and could come at a lower environmental cost than terrestrial mining.

But scientists say very little is still known about the depths of the world’s oceans — only a small fraction of which humans have explored — and many are concerned about the impacts on these ecosystems already affected by pollution, trawling and the climate crisis.

The deep ocean in this region is home to a huge number of marine species, from krill to whales, as well as deep sea animals, many of which have not yet been discovered by humans. “We do not know what we risk losing for the exact reason that we do not know what the deep sea holds,” Pleym said.

The Norwegian government has said that seabed minerals offer an exciting new industry and “extraction will only be permitted if the industry can demonstrate that it can be done in a sustainable and responsible manner.”

But other countries have urged caution, including the United Kingdom, which last year announced its support for a moratorium on deep sea mining.

In November, more than 100 European politicians wrote an open letter to the Norwegian parliament, urging it to vote against deep sea mining. The letter referred to the risks to marine life and the potential for accelerating climate change by disturbing the carbon locked up in the sea floor.

Another open letter, signed by more than 800 scientists from around the world, has called for a pause in deep sea mining, saying it risks causing losses “that would be irreversible on multi-generational timescales.”

CNN has contacted the Norwegian government for comment.

In December, Norwegian politician Baard Ludvig Thorheim told Reuters that the environmental bar for deep sea mining had been set high. “We believe, and hope, it will become the international standard for this activity,” he said.

It remains unclear how fast a deep sea mining industry might spring up in Norway. It may be a matter of months before exploration starts, Pleym said.

But parliament will still need to approve the issuing of mining licenses to begin extraction. “There will be another vote before actual mining begins,” said Kaja Lønne Fjærtoft, WWF-Norway’s deep sea mining expert.

There is also a question of whether deep sea mining in the Arctic will be a commercially valuable industry, Fjærtoft told CNN. The minerals in the region will be “extremely difficult to extract,” she said, and by the time these minerals are being commercially extracted, it may also be “way too late” to contribute to the green economic transition.

It’s a concern shared by the European Academies of Science Advisory Council, an association of national academies of science. “The narrative that deep-sea mining is essential to meeting our climate targets and thus a green technology is misleading,” Michael Norton, EASAC environment director, said in a statement last year.

Norway’s decision to greenlight deep sea mining comes in the context of a wider debate about whether international waters should also be opened up to the practice.

The International Seabed Authority, the UN-affiliated body which regulates seabed extraction, is expected to finalize rules on mining in international waters next year.

Source: https://edition.cnn.com/2024/01/09/climate/norway-deep-sea-mining-climate-intl/index.html

Further information on this issue can be sourced at the links below:

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/jan/09/deep-sea-mining-why-is-interest-growing-and-what-are-the-risks

https://oilprice.com/Metals/Commodities/What-Does-Norways-Approval-of-Deep-Sea-Mining-Mean-for-the-Rest-of-the-World.html

[LordAnubis]

Interesting. Dredging is a common practise for various minerals such as titanium oxides etc. I wonder if this will be the same concept, just deeper or if it will be some sort of hard rock sea floor mining method. 

[Fuzz]

11 hours ago, LordAnubis said:

Interesting. Dredging is a common practise for various minerals such as titanium oxides etc. I wonder if this will be the same concept, just deeper or if it will be some sort of hard rock sea floor mining method. 

Crack the mantle and siphon the core!!!

[ChanceSchmerr]

Been following this industry very closely. In particular, the proposals to mine the sea-bottom "nodules" that are full of rare earth metals - lots of proposals to mine them seem to mimic the habitat-destructiveness of dredging, but in areas where scientific/oceanographic knowledge is minimal - so we're proposing to sweep the bottom clean, without knowing the biome that we're destroying.........kind of like clearcutting a forest to mine the ground underneath, whilst covering your eyes to the forest that you're cutting down.

[JohnS]

Great analogy, @ChanceSchmerr. Let's see what happens. Let's see if and/or how Norway pushes ahead with this initiative.

[MrBirdman]

This sounds a lot more expensive than drilling for oil underwater. Hard to imagine they’ll be able to compete with China on price. The greater value here seems to be geopolitical.