Norway shelves deep sea mining call amid international pressure

The Norwegian government postponed the first licensing round for deep sea mining in an area the size of Iceland. The move follows protests from environmental organizations and an international call for a moratorium.

In January, Norway designated 281,000 square kilometers of seabed between Iceland and Svalbard for deep sea mining activities. The decision prompted widespread opposition. In the meantime, a rift within the ruling coalition resulted in a delay of the first round of licensing until the end of 2025 at least.

The initial area was supposed to cover 386 zones in the Norwegian Sea of 106,000 square kilometers in total. For comparison, it is slightly bigger than Iceland. Exploitation licenses would be issued to companies for the world’s first deep sea mining projects.

Plans for deep sea mining are part of strategic minerals rush

Depths in the overall plan range from roughly 1,500 to 4,000 meters. The seabed there contains minerals including copper, zinc, cobalt, rare earth elements. The initiative is part of a global race for strategic materials, which is largely driven by the energy transition.

However, the deep sea is mostly unexplored and the impact of mining is unknown. Norwegian activists, major environmentalist organizations, fishing groups and scientists warned of potential devastation of the ecosystem.

Even a group of 32 countries including Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Canada, Brazil, Denmark, Sweden and Finland launched an initiative for a global moratorium on the practice in international waters.

“Any government that is committed to sustainable ocean management cannot support deep sea mining. It has been truly embarrassing to watch Norway positioning itself as an ocean leader, while planning to give green light to ocean destruction in its own waters”, said Haldis Tjeldflaat Helle, campaigner at Greenpeace Nordic.

Deep seabed is world’s largest carbon reservoir

WWF-Norway has sued the government for failing to comply with the impact assessment requirements of the Seabed Minerals Act.

“The deep ocean is our last untouched wilderness. Here, nature adapts slowly and is vulnerable to human activities. We also know that the deep seabed is the world’s largest carbon reservoir, and that it provides essential environmental services for the rest of the ocean and our entire planet,” the organization said.