Norway is poised to move forward with plans to mine for seabed minerals along its continental shelf despite public opposition.
On June 26, the Norwegian Ministry of Energy released a proposal for the first licensing round for mining of seabed minerals, setting out areas where companies could eventually apply for licenses. The proposal included a total of 386 blocks, constituting nearly 106,000 square kilometers (40,900 square miles), an area about the size of Iceland, that could potentially be used for mining activities. In January, Norway earmarked a total of 281,000 km2 (108,500 mi2) for mining after a majority of Parliament voted to push forward with the industry.
The proposed blocks include areas rich in sulfides and manganese crusts, which contain in-demand minerals such as copper, zinc, cobalt and rare earth elements. Some proposed blocks overlap with active hydrothermal vent systems, although the government has said it will not allow mining to take place at active vent sites.
The licensing round proposal included a three-month public consultation period, which closed Sept. 26. Astrid Bergmål, a state secretary in the Norwegian Ministry of Energy, told Mongabay the government will review all public consultation responses before announcing which areas to officially open for mining. She added that the government will base its decisions on “new, updated knowledge obtained by both state and commercial actors.” However, the government has given no indication that the granting of these license areas could be delayed or stopped based on feedback it had received. Terje Aasland, Norway’s minister of energy, previously stated that he intended to begin awarding mining licenses in the “first half of 2025” with a view to starting commercial extraction in 2030.
The licenses due to be awarded will be exploitation licenses — not exploration licenses. According to Elisabeth Sæther, another Ministry of Energy state secretary, these licenses will grant each licensee the exclusive right to explore within the license area, but despite their name, do not constitute approval to begin exploitation.
“The first phase of an exploitation licence is mapping and exploration,” Sæther told Mongabay in an email. “Before a licensee can start possible exploitation of seabed [minerals] in a defined area, an exploitation plan which includes a project-specific impact assessment must be approved both by the parliament and the Ministry of Energy.”
Bergmål said only companies “established in accordance with Norwegian legislation” and registered in Norway will be awarded exploitation licenses.
There are currently three major deep-sea mining companies based in Norway: Loke Marine Minerals, Green Minerals and Adepth Minerals. Loke also has licenses for areas in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ) in international waters, where the U.N.-affiliated International Seabed Authority oversees deep-sea mining activities. Green Minerals is in the process of obtaining a license in the CCZ as well.
A sustainable industry?
Norway is one of a handful of countries actively pursuing deep-sea mining in its territorial waters. Leaders of the Nordic nation have often cited the need to secure minerals for “green transition” technologies as the primary reason for pursuing deep-sea mining, along with lessening dependence on China and Russia for critical minerals. Sæther said Norway will only push forward seabed mineral exploitation if licensees can prove they can extract minerals in a “sustainable and responsible way” and that the government will follow a “stepwise” approach to developing the industry.
However, deep-sea mining, which has yet to start anywhere in the world on a commercial scale, has attracted strong criticism from environmentalists and even some scientists, industry leaders and public institutions. Opponents tend to argue that deep-sea mining is unnecessary since the minerals found in the deep sea can also be found on land or even secured through recycling. They also contend that this unproven industry could irreparably harm the ocean and the marine life and fisheries it supports at a time when the marine environment has already sustained unprecedented damage from human activities. Yet another concern is the dearth of knowledge about the deep sea and the potential impact of mining in these depths — although many experts also say that collaboration with deep-sea mining companies and their partners is essential to carry out the necessary research.
“Almost nothing” is known about Norway’s proposed license areas, said Torkild Bakken, a marine biologist at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), who is involved in deep-sea mining research.
“The progress is too fast,” Bakken told Mongabay. It goes “against scientific advice, and then the same scientific advice says that we need more knowledge.”
NTNU also submitted a response to the public consultation, which similarly stated in Norwegian that the current knowledge base around deep-sea mining and its impacts “is not good enough for the authorities to fully know the consequences of opening mineral operations on the seabed.”
A mix of responses
The public consultation process drew more than 70 responses from research institutions, government agencies, industry organizations, NGOs and members of the public, offering a mix of views. Around 40 responses expressed clear opposition to Norway’s deep-sea mining plans, while around 10 expressed support. Around 20 didn’t express a clear view for or against, but provided feedback about how the government should progress with deep-sea mining plans. Many across the board emphasized the need for more research and understanding. Nine of the responses were blank or stated that the drafter did not wish to comment.
Anette Broch, CEO of Adepth Minerals, who submitted a response supporting Norway’s licensing proposal, told Mongabay that the granting of licenses will be an “important step to ensure knowledge building” and that “industry and academic collaboration is the key” to obtaining that knowledge.
Broch said she anticipates Adepth beginning seabed-mineral extraction in the early 2030s, but that more data is first needed to fully understand the environmental impacts of such activities so mining can be done in a responsible way. With this knowledge in hand, she said she believes deep-sea mining will be possible without harming the marine environment. “I wouldn’t have worked with this if I didn’t believe that,” she said.
Other entities that expressed clear support for Norway’s plans include deep-sea mining companies Loke and Green Minerals; industry associations GCE Ocean Technology and the Norwegian Forum for Marine Minerals; an employers’ organization called Norsk Industri; and Kristiansund, a municipality on the country’s western coast.
The Norwegian Environment Agency, part of the Ministry of Climate and Environment, took a more critical view. Its response, in Norwegian, notes that there is insufficient environmental knowledge and that the current plan lacks a “stopping point between the exploration phase and further planning of projects for extraction.”
“Experience from the petroleum industry indicates that in practice there is a high threshold for saying ‘no’ to a project, when the industry has already spent a lot of resources on finding resources, investigating an area and started detailed planning of an extraction solution,” the agency said in its statement.
While the Ministry of Energy is responsible for the process of opening areas for deep-sea mining, the Environment Agency plays a role as an environmental adviser and provides input during the consultation round. Additionally, the agency will be able to exercise authority in monitoring pollution from deep-sea mining activities.
Other responders expressing the view that Norway should not pursue deep-sea mining included various trade unions, such as Fagforbundet, Naturviterne and the Norwegian Civil Service Association; fishing industry groups, including the Norwegian Fishermen’s Association and the Pelagic Association; and numerous environmental groups and members of the public.
Among the responses that did not advocate strongly either for or against the Ministry of Energy’s plans were from other government bodies. One came from the Directorate for Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety, part of the Ministry of Health and Care Services. It noted that deep-sea mining activities could produce radioactive waste and that more knowledge is needed to plan for this possibility. Another came from the Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries, which serves as the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Fisheries’ advisory and executive body. Its response said that it did not take any issue with the plans, and that there is “no need to exempt any of the area proposals in the consultation based on coexistence challenges with the fishing industry.”
Kaja Loenne Fjaertoft, global policy lead at WWF, an NGO that also sent a response during the public consultation period, said the entire licensing proposal process was “very rushed” and the Norwegian government was not heeding the advice of environmental authorities as they progressed with their plans.
“The question is, what will the government do with these comments, because obviously, you have a public consultation to get feedback on your plans,” Fjaertoft told Mongabay. “However, both our minister and the agency have said, ‘Now we’re going to do the public consultation and then we’re going to give licenses.’ What they haven’t said is, ‘We’re going to see what the comments say and then decide what to do.’ This doesn’t give us very much hope that they will listen in this instance.”
In May, WWF announced it was suing the Norwegian government for not complying with the country’s Seabed Minerals Act, which has criteria for rigorous environmental assessments that Fjaertof said haven’t been fulfilled. The court case is set to run Nov. 28 through Dec. 4. If WWF prevails, Fjaertoft said the government’s opening decision would be deemed “invalid.”
In response to the legal proceedings, Bergmål of the Ministry of Energy said WWF has “the right” to take the case to court but that the ministry does not agree with the NGO’s view.
“We will present our arguments before the court,” Bergmål said in an email. “Apart from this, it is not appropriate for me to go further into this matter now.”
This article by Elizabeth Claire Alberts was first published by Mongabay.com on 7 October 2024. Lead Image: An orca in Skjervøy, Norway. Image by Toby Matthews / Ocean Image Bank.
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