Norway moves to allow seabed mining – 01/12/2024 – Environment

Norway has become the first country in the world to move forward with the controversial practice of deep-sea mining on a commercial scale.

A bill, approved on Tuesday (9), will accelerate the search for precious metals, highly sought after by green technology projects.

But environmental scientists warn that this type of mining could be devastating for marine life.

The plan concerns Norwegian waters, but an agreement on mining in international waters could also be reached this year.

The Norwegian government says it is being cautious and will only start issuing licenses once additional environmental studies have been carried out.

The seabed is home to potato-sized rocks called nodules and crusts, which contain minerals like lithium, scandium and cobalt — essential for clean technologies like batteries.

Norway’s proposal will open up 280,000 km² of its national waters for companies to apply to explore these resources — an area larger than the size of the United Kingdom.

Although these minerals are available on land, they are concentrated in a few countries, increasing the risk of shortages.

For example, the Democratic Republic of Congo, which holds some of the largest cobalt reserves, faces conflict in some parts of the country.

Walter Sognnes, co-founder of Norwegian mining company Loke Minerals, which plans to apply for a license, acknowledges that more needs to be done to understand the depths of the ocean before mining begins.

“We will have a relatively long period of exploration and mapping activities to fill the gap in knowledge about the environmental impact [da mineração em águas profundas]”, Sognes told the BBC.

Martin Webeler, an ocean conservation activist and researcher at the Foundation for Environmental Justice, says the plan is “catastrophic” for ocean habitat.

“The Norwegian government has always highlighted that it wants to implement the highest environmental standards,” he says. “That’s hypocrisy when you ignore all scientific advice.”

Webeler says mining companies should focus on preventing environmental damage in their current operations rather than starting an entirely new industry.

Possible environmental damage

The move puts the country at odds with the European Union and the United Kingdom, which have called for a temporary ban on the practice due to concerns about environmental damage.

Techniques for exploiting deep-sea minerals can generate significant noise and light pollution, as well as damage to the habitat of organisms that depend on the nodules, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

In November, 120 EU members released an open letter calling on the Norwegian parliament to reject the project due to “the risk of this activity to marine biodiversity and the acceleration of climate change.”

The letter also states that the impact assessment carried out by Norway has many gaps.

The Norwegian government is still facing resistance from its own experts. The Norwegian Institute of Marine Research (IMR) says the government made assumptions from a small research area and applied them to the entire area planned for drilling.

The institute estimates that another five to ten years of research into impacts on species are needed.

Caution

The Norwegian government will not immediately allow companies to start drilling. They will have to submit proposals, including environmental impact assessments. Each license will be approved on a case-by-case basis by parliament.

Marianne Sivertsen Næss, chair of the Standing Committee on Energy and Environment, which reviewed the original plan, told the BBC that the Norwegian government is taking a “precautionary approach to mineral activities”.

“We currently do not have the knowledge necessary to extract minerals from the seabed in the necessary way,” said Næss.

“The government’s proposal to open an area for activity allows private actors to explore and acquire knowledge and data from the areas in question. Opening areas is not the same as approving the extraction of minerals from the seabed”, he added.

Loke Minerals’ Sognnes adds that the government’s plan brings much-needed investment from the private sector into research into deep-sea environments.

“Developing knowledge in the depths of the ocean is very expensive. You have to operate robots, which is very expensive and, unfortunately, universities have limited access to these types of tools,” he says.

The executive estimates that any extraction would not begin before the early 2030s.

Mineral recycling

Environmentalists argue that more investment should be made in recycling and reusing minerals already extracted from the earth.

The Foundation for Environmental Justice estimates in a report that 16,000 tons of cobalt per year, about 10% of annual production, could be recovered through better collection and recycling of cell phones.

Although Norway’s proposal concerns only its national waters, negotiations continue on the possible issuance of licenses in international waters

The International Seabed Authority (ISA) — a body affiliated with the United Nations — will meet this year to try to finalize the rules, with a final vote scheduled for 2025.

More than 30 countries are in favor of a temporary ban, but countries like China are eager to continue exploration.

This text was originally published here.