2024-01-10 20:00:21
For the Norwegian parliament, it was simply agenda item 6 on Tuesday followingnoon: a proposal by the minority government to start extracting raw materials in its own exclusive economic zone and on the Norwegian continental shelf. “Yes,” said 80 percent of parliamentarians, “let’s allow that.”
Norway claims to be the first country in the world to do so. The area in question is approximately seven times the size of the Netherlands and is located between the mainland and the Norwegian islands of Spitsbergen and Jan Mayen in the Arctic Ocean.
It is estimated that there are 38 million tons of copper in the ground. Just like 4 million tons of cobalt, 185 million tons of manganese and tens of thousands of tons of rare earth metals, such as neodymium and gallium. Raw materials that are very useful for the energy transition, for example to make batteries and magnets for electric cars.
Irreparable damage to the ecosystem
Opponents protested once morest the proposal in front of parliament. Mining the seabed would irreparably damage the ecosystem and legitimize deep-sea mining in international seabeds.
The activists are not alone in this concern. They feel strengthened by it 24 countries who are once morest deep-sea mining, the European Commissionmore than 500,000 people who have a onlinepetitie signed, eight hundred scientists and 119 politicians from EU countries. Even the Norwegian Environmental Agency thinks the plan of their own government is unsound.
Mandatory environmental impact assessment
State Secretary Astrid Bergmal of the Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy says otherwise Fidelity to only allow mining of the seabed if miners can demonstrate that they work ‘carefully and sustainably’. It proposal obliges companies that want to extract raw materials to draw up an environmental impact assessment and to indicate how they limit the damage.
It is not yet known exactly what these requirements will look like. The Norwegian government must draw up those rules later.
In the designated area, the raw materials are located in so-called sulphide pipes and manganese crusts. The first are a kind of ‘chimneys’ that form when warm water flows from underground sources into the sea. The second occurs when a manganese-rich mineral precipitates from seawater onto a rocky seabed. The manganese layer is sometimes tens of centimeters thick.
A lot of life occurs around still active sulfide pipes. The organisms get their energy from the chemical reactions of substances that well up from the chimneys. To protect this life, Norway still prohibits the dismantling of active sulfide pipes.
How to divide the ‘profits’
Thanks to the proposal, companies registered in Norway can now apply for a permit. Possible interested parties are Loke Marine Minerals, RenOcean and Adepth Minerals. Companies from other countries are currently excluded.
Norway would like to be at the forefront of deep-sea mining. Countries and companies worldwide are developing techniques to mine the seabed. In addition, the mineral resources become a good substitute for income from oil and gas, which currently accounts for 30 percent of the economy and 60 percent of exports.
Within the International Seabed Authority (ISA), countries have been negotiating for a long time regarding whether deep-sea mining should be allowed, what environmental rules apply and how the ‘profit’ should be divided.
Mineral resources from the international seabed should also benefit countries that do not have the capital or technological knowledge to engage in deep-sea mining themselves. That is why Norway must hand over part (7 percent) of the proceeds from the continental shelf to the international community.
International discussion
Opponents of deep-sea mining fear that Norway’s unilateral action will put pressure on negotiations at the ISA. Because if Norway just does it, other countries will probably want to start quickly too.
Conversely, this international discussion might still influence Norway’s plans, says Erik Molenaar of the Netherlands Institute for the Law of the Sea. “If countries decide that it is not allowed, it will also become more difficult for countries such as Norway to allow the same activity on their own continental shelf.”
Also read:
“Deep-sea mining is not that harmful,” says the entrepreneur who wants to start it
The Canadian company The Metals Company wants to apply for a deep-sea mining license in July. Experts in the field question the miner’s ‘hasty’ conclusion following completing the investigation.
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