- by Graham Holton
- The Guardian
- Issue #2162
Norway has identified valuable deep-sea mineral deposits of copper, cobalt, rare earths, and sulphide deposits at Grøntua, across an undersea area of 280,000 km². In 2024, Norway’s Parliament approved opening its territorial waters for commercial deep-sea mining exploration. This made it the first country to do so. In June 2024, the government announced its first exploration permits would be awarded in early 2025. Significant resistance from environmental groups delayed the first round of exploration until 2026.
The European Parliament and several countries expressed concern and called for a moratorium on deep-sea mining, because of the risks to biodiversity. Conservationists urged a halt until proper ecological studies were completed. UN bodies called for a moratorium on future mining.
The World Wildlife Fund and Greenpeace warned that deep-sea mining could violate biodiversity protection obligations under international law. WWF-Norway sued the government, alleging that the environmental impact assessment was inadequate as it had failed to comply with the Seabed Minerals Act. Critics warned of irreversible ecosystem damage to unknown deep-sea species.
The main environmental problems are associated with habitat destruction, toxic plumes, noise and light disruption, chemical leakage, carbon release, and the irreversibility of damage to fragile habitats. Deep-sea mining risks destroying vulnerable, unexplored Arctic ecosystems and disrupting global carbon cycles, with potentially irreversible biodiversity loss, habitat destruction, noise and light pollution, and the release of stored methane gas.
Critics argue there is an insufficient understanding of deep-sea biology. There are significant gaps in scientific understanding of deep-sea ecosystems, making it difficult to assess the true impact of mining activities. Mining machinery could create plumes of fine sediment that smother marine life and spread toxins over large areas, potentially impacting fish populations and ocean chemistry. Mining activities would cause irreversible damage to sulphide chimneys and sponge grounds, which are fragile, hosting unique species.
The dark, silent deep-sea environment relies on biolumin-escence for communication and navigation. Mining operations would introduce significant noise and light pollution, which can mask ecological functions and irreversibly harm deep-sea organisms. The deep sea is a massive carbon storage area. Disturbing these environments could lead to the release of stored carbon and methane, potentially exacerbating climate change. Deep-sea mining could harm valuable fish stocks and disrupt sustainable fishing industries, a concern shared by Norwegian fishing associations.
The deep sea is one of the quietest and darkest ecosystems on Earth. Mining would introduce continuous noise, vibration, and artificial light, disrupting species adapted to silence and darkness, including deep-sea fish and marine mammals that rely on sound. These habitats took millennia to form and are often unique to small areas.
Mining machines churn the seabed, creating massive plumes of sediment. These clouds can spread far beyond the mining zone, smothering filter-feeding organisms, clogging gills, and reducing light penetration. Sediment may also contain toxic metals, such as mercury, cadmium, and arsenic, that can re-enter the food chain. Disturbing sulphide deposits risks releasing acidic, metal-rich fluids, which can cause acid mine drainage underwater, altering pH and poisoning organisms. Released metals could bioaccumulate up the food chain, threatening fisheries.
Many species are undiscovered and could be lost before being studied. Scientific knowledge of deep-sea ecology is still limited, meaning risks are largely unknown. The seabed recovers extremely slowly over hundreds to thousands of years. Once destroyed, habitats may never return.
