Norway becomes first country to greenlight deep-sea mining

The Norwegian parliament has approved commercial-scale seabed mining in its territorial waters in the Arctic Ocean, international media reported on Tuesday.

The approved bill allows the exploration of around 280,000 square kilometres on the Norwegian continental shelf between Norway and Greenland, an area estimated to hold large-scale minerals reserves of up to 45 million tonnes of zinc and up to 3 million tonnes of cobalt – both minerals critical to clean energy technologies.

Deep sea mining is widely opposed by environmentalists and the fishing industry due to the anticipated impact on the seabed and marine life. The EU supports a temporary ban on the practice due to these concerns.

The Norwegian government has mandated the use of the highest environmental standards as projects are developed, and says it will practice caution in awarding licences. Such developments are expected to take place in the mid- to long term, after a period of studies of the seabed.