A “gold mine” almost the size of Finland was opened on the seabed – 2024-03-30 07:15:31

Lean wood. Here, the Patania II robot is lowered to the bottom to vacuum mineral-rich nodules from the bottom. There is no commercial activity going on anywhere yet. DEME Group

At the beginning of January, the Norwegian parliament’s upper house decided by a vote of 80-20 that the 280,000 square kilometer area at the bottom of the North Sea will be opened for commercial mining. The plan is to raise, among other things, lithium and cobalt from the sea.

280,000 square kilometers is an area almost the size of Finland – more precisely, about five sixths of Finland’s land area of ​​about 338,000 km².

The area is in Norway’s economic zone, but extends towards the British Isles. Both Britain and the EU have called for a temporary ban on deep-sea mining for environmental reasons. Norway is not a member of the EU.

In the surveys, a huge number of potato-sized lumps or nodules have been found in the bottom, which are rich in minerals needed by the green transition. Lithium and cobalt are especially needed in lithium-ion batteries.

The permit requires environmental studies

Starting an underwater mining operation in Norwegian waters is not completely self-evident.

Commercial companies can now apply for a license to start “vacuuming” the bottom, but permits will not be granted until thorough investigations of the environmental effects of bottom scraping have been carried out.

Even after the environmental permit has been granted, the Grand Chamber still has to finally approve the mining company’s license.

Norwegian Loke Minerals is one company that plans to apply for a license.

“Exploring and mapping the bottom takes quite a long time, as does finding out the environmental effects,” he says Walter Sognnesone of the company’s founders, to the BBC.

Expanding into international waters?

The International Seabed Authority (ISA), under the UN, will meet later this year to formulate rules for the exploitation of the seabed in international waters.

At least 30 countries would like to ban underwater mining, but many countries also support it. A vote on the issue is expected in 2025.

This news was originally published In Tekniikka&Talous magazine.