The Norwegian government intends to take the seabed mining project to the country’s parliament for consideration within a couple of weeks, says the Financial Times magazine.
Norway’s Ministry of Energy plans to submit a proposal to parliament that would allow the submission of permit applications for exploration and mining in the sea area. Parliament is supposed to vote on the issue in the fall.
– The proposed seabed mining area is huge. Some similar undersea mining projects are also planned in the Pacific Ocean, for example, says a research professor familiar with marine geology Aarno Kotilainen From the Geological Research Center.
The project would be in the Norwegian Sea and would extend almost to Väipupvuori. So far, no actual mining has started anywhere on the seabed.
The Norwegian government has justified the project with the need to promote the green transition, i.e. the change towards a carbon-neutral society. In the plans, Norway would become the first country to mine battery metals from the seabed.
There are many valuable metals in the hot springs of the seabed
In practice, minerals would be mined from the vicinity of hot springs on the seabed, explains Kotilainen.
In that area, the continental plates of North America and Eurasia are separating from each other, and this is accompanied by a lot of volcanic activity. When the ocean crust moves, molten lava gets up to the sea floor.
– The water coming from hot springs contains a lot of metals dissolved from the marine crust. That’s why they are now interesting, says Kotilainen.
Around the hot springs, in the vents, very metal-rich “pipes” are deposited, and metals also spread into the surrounding environment.
– These areas are very rich in, among other things, battery minerals. There is cobalt, nickel, copper and probably lithium too, Kotilainen enumerates.
Norway has estimated that in the area of the planned project, there would be an estimated 38 million tons of copper in the cracks of the continental plates, up to a water depth of four kilometers.
– Now technology is starting to make it possible to utilize such deep-sea areas, but the adverse effects must first be thoroughly investigated, says Kotilainen.
The environmental effects are not yet known
– There is an enormously rich and unique biological habitat, especially near the hot springs on the seabed. It is not known how mining would affect them, says Kotilainen.
The project has sparked a heated debate in Norway, as the effects of deep-sea mining on the marine environment are not yet known.
At the beginning of the year, environmental organizations demand in their joint statement government to cancel the project, says the Norwegian broadcasting company NRK.
The Geological Survey of Norway, NGU, has also expressed sharp criticism of the Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy’s information. NGU has made it clear that all of the ministry’s estimates do not have enough scientific basis, says NRK.
The Norwegian government has assured that the planned mining project would be implemented in an environmentally sustainable manner.
Also a research professor at the Arctic Center Timo Koivurova reminds that Norway is setting up a project in an area where there is almost no research data.
New species of animals and plants and unique organisms can be found on the seabed all the time.
– At the same time, the International Seabed Organization is discussing whether mining at the bottom of the deep sea is possible at all. For example, France would like to ban it completely, says Koivurova.
The activity in the surroundings of the Svalbard also arouses controversy
In Norway, there may also be an international dispute about the project if it goes ahead, because there are different views on the interpretation of the Svalbard Treaty signed in 1920.
According to the agreement, Norway has the right to control and administer the Svalbard. However, the agreement offers all parties to the agreement basically the same rights to exploit the area economically.
Among the parties to the agreement are Britain, the United States and Russia.
– The countries disagree on how far their right to use the sea area and its resources extends. Norway considers that it can operate further from the coast of Svalbard than others accept, says Koivurova.
“It’s a bit like exploring the moon”
Many countries are now under great pressure to utilize hard-to-find metals to speed up the green transition. In addition, we want to reduce dependence on China, which largely controls, for example, the production chains of rare metals.
At the same time, however, we are dealing with previously unused places.
– It’s a bit like going to explore outer space. Basic information doesn’t exist yet, so irreversible damage can happen, says Koivurova.