Norway looks to extract battery metals from ocean floor
Is humanity willing to risk irreparable environmental damage to reach net zero? That is a question posed by deep-sea mining. The FT reports that Norway’s government is preparing to submit a proposal to open an area of ocean nearly the size of Germany to extraction bids. The area contains huge amounts of copper, as well as metals used in electric car batteries like cobalt and rare earths including neodymium and dysprosium that are used to make magnets in wind turbines. But the fishing industry is worried about the impact on their catch, while Norway’s environment agency warned this year of “significant and irreversible consequences”, saying only small areas should be opened up to mining. There is a “great lack of knowledge” of deep oceans and the species that live there, says Norway’s Institute of Marine Research. Other countries are exploring deep-sea mining, with similar debates. A UN-backed regulator that oversees bids to mine international waters will reach a crunch point in negotiations for the world’s first commercial deep-sea mining proposal next month.
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