Norway designates zones for contested deep-sea mining

Norway designates zones for contested deep-sea mining
by AFP Staff Writers
Oslo (AFP) June 27, 2024

Norway's government has taken another step toward its controversial plan to open its seabed to deep-sea mining, proposing areas suitable for exploration.

Already Western Europe's largest oil and gas producer, Norway could become one of the first countries to authorise seabed mining, insisting on the importance of not relying on China or authoritarian countries for minerals essential for renewable technology.

"The Ministry of Energy has presented a proposal for the announcement of the first licensing round for seabed minerals on the Norwegian continental shelf for public consultation," the government said in a statement issued Wednesday.

"The proposal sets out the areas where the companies will be able to apply for exploitation licenses, so that exploration and gathering knowledge ... can begin," it said.

The World Wide Fund for Nature's (WWF) Norwegian chapter said in late May it planned to take legal action against Oslo for failing to perform sufficient impact studies.

On April 12, the energy ministry announced it was opening up an area for exploration in the Norwegian Sea and Greenland Sea -- of the size of the UK, according to WWF -- with the aim of awarding the first licences in the first half of 2025.

The blocks proposed Wednesday cover around 38 percent of this area.

Exploration of the zone will make it possible to know "whether there is a basis for sustainable mineral exploitation on the Norwegian shelf," the government said.

If not, deep-sea mining will not be authorised.

Earlier this year, the Norwegian parliament gave the green light to open up parts of Norway's seabed to exploration.

NGOs and scientists have criticised the plan, warning of a lack of knowledge about the environmental impact.

Several countries, including France and the UK, have called for a moratorium on deep-sea mining.

Oslo maintains that by allowing the prospecting, it wants to fill in gaps in knowledge to determine whether undersea mining can take place without serious impact on the environment.

In early 2023, the Norwegian Offshore Directorate published a report concluding that "substantial resources are in place on the seabed" including minerals such as copper, zinc and cobalt.

Among other uses, they are crucial for the manufacturing of batteries, wind turbines, computers and mobile phones.

Some 98 percent of rare earth minerals used in the EU are imported from China.