Dark Oxygen: A Dark Horse For the Seabed Mining Industry?
This is the type of nodule that scientists have discovered to produce oxygen in the seabed. (Photo: Trine Jonassen)
Can a black lump found 4,000 meters below the surface of the Pacific Ocean throw a spanner in the works of seabed mining? Some activists hope so and call for a stop to plans to extract minerals from the deep seabeds of the Arctic.
Thousands of meters below the ocean surface, nature has found a way to produce oxygen without the help of plants and sunlight.
Instead, it is produced by black metallic lumps, or polymetallic nodules, found on the deep sea floor.
Andrew Sweetman et al. revealed the discovery in July in the research article "Evidence of dark oxygen production at the abyssal seafloor" in the journal Nature Geoscience.
Gina Gylver, WWF Norway's advisor on deep sea mining. (Photo: WWF)
Gina Gylver of WWF Norway says in an interview with High North News that Sweetman and his colleagues' findings turn everything we thought we knew about the deep sea on its head.
The nodules in question are the most relevant for deep sea mining, says Gylver, which makes the findings particularly worrying.
The nodules were discovered in the Pacific and the Indian Ocean at a depth of 4,000 meters. Such nodules have not been found in the Norwegian seabed. However, there are manganese crusts, which could possibly contain oxygen.
We don't even know what we don't know.
Norway against the flow
In January of this year, the Norwegian government decided to proceed with plans for commercial deep-sea mining, becoming the first country in the world to do so.
This went against recommendations from an array of environmental organizations, researchers, and other authorities, such as the Norwegian Environment Agency and the Norwegian Institute of Marine Research.
Yet, as the world is rushing toward the green shift, the need for critical minerals has overshadowed environmental concerns.
In April, WWF Norway sued the government over the deep seabed mining decision, arguing that the impact assessment was insufficient.
"We believe the government is violating Norwegian law by now opening up for a new and potentially destructive industry without adequately assessing the consequences. It will set a dangerous precedent if we allow the government to ignore its own rules, override all environmental advice, and manage our common natural resources blindly," said WWF-Norway CEO Karoline Andaur in a statement in May.
Marianne Sivertsen Næss (Labor), Bård Ludvig Thorheim (Conservative), Terje Halleland (Progress Party) og Aleksander Øren Heen (Centre) meeting the press after having agreed on deep sea minerals in January. Environmental organisations, the Socialist Left, the Red Party, and the Liberal Party reacted strongly to the decision.
Seabed minerals
Seabed minerals consist of sulfides, manganese crusts, and manganese nodules formed at the seabed in the deep reaches of the ocean.
On the Norwegian continental shelf, we have sulfides and manganese crusts containing metals and minerals crucial for the technology surrounding us today – such as batteries, wind turbines, PCs, and mobile phones.
The Act relating to mineral activities on the Norwegian continental shelf – the Seabed Minerals Act – entered into force on July 1st, 2019.
The Norwegian Offshore Directorate has been tasked by the Ministry of Energy (MOE) to map the most commercially interesting mineral deposits on the Norwegian continental shelf.
Source: the Norwegian Offshore Directorate
Not enough time or demand
Gylver states that the green shift is happening now and that technology is developing so fast that there is no time to wait for deep-sea minerals.
"The green industries develop quickly to meet the mineral demands that exist. Innovation happens constantly in these industries, and the demand will not be the same in 20 years."
She also emphasizes that there is no actual need to extract deep-sea minerals.
She refers to an EASAC report claiming that "the narrative that deep-sea mining is essential to meeting our climate targets and thus a green technology is misleading" and that "Deep-sea mining would not provide many of the critical materials needed for the green transition and other high-tech sectors. In addition, recycling rates can be vastly improved, and future technological innovation has not been adequately considered in forecasts."
We see no efforts from politicians to contribute to the recycling of minerals.
"An enormous part of the mineral demand can be met with already extracted minerals," says Gylver, pointing to a SINTEF report claiming that the need for the most critical minerals could be reduced by up to 58 percent by 2050 through a more circular economy.
"But we see no efforts from politicians to contribute to the recycling of minerals," she says.
She adds that the rest of the minerals needed for the green shift can be accounted for through mining on land.
"We have hundreds of years of experience on land. We can do it responsibly, although that is not the case today," Gylver explains and continues:
The most insane aspect of the process is that scientific evidence is not taken into account.
"The authorities can prioritize the environment over profits. They can provide for underground mining, backfilling, prohibition of marine landfills, etc. We have a lot of knowledge here."
"Mining can never be sustainable, it can never be green. Mining on land, however, can be done responsibly, but deep sea mining cannot."
Gylver reacts strongly to what she considers a complete dismissal of science in the governmental process.
"The most insane aspect of the process is that scientific evidence is not taken into account. The government will not stop. They are continuing this rushed process. They do not consider the major knowledge gaps or the risk of irreversible damage to fundamental ecosystem functions that we have not yet understood or discovered."
The Norwegian Ministry of Energy has been asked to respond to the criticism by WWF but did not respond in time for publication.
