Norway Moves to Allow Seabed Mining Exploration

The Norwegian Parliament voted on Tuesday to authorize the opening of parts of the Norwegian Sea to seabed mining exploration, a move that reflects rising international demand for the metals needed to build batteries for electric vehicles worldwide.

The decision clears the way for prospectors to look for seabed deposits between Norway and Greenland, mostly above the Arctic Circle, in areas under Norway’s national jurisdiction.

Proposals for mining exploration in both international waters and coastal areas like those off Norway have encountered stiff opposition from environmentalists who say that not enough is known about the life at the bottom of sea to authorize mining.

Initially, the work in Norway will involve collecting information about the amount of metals in the seabed and what harm large-scale mining might cause to aquatic life.

The Parliament would have to consider the plan again before industrial-scale seabed mining would be allowed to start.

Norway joins a growing list of nations — including Japan, New Zealand, Namibia and the Cook Islands in the South Pacific — that in recent years have either considered or taken steps toward seabed mining.