What are seafloor minerals used for?

– Oil and gas remain our most important missions, but we also have significant activity in carbon dioxide storage, seabed minerals and some offshore wind. We have a good management tradition in Norway, as well as long and heavy technical expertise that can be used in developing new industries, says Kjersti Daly, Director of Technology, Analysis and Coexistence at the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (OD), which will soon be renamed the Norwegian Continental Shelf Directorate. .

– We know that we have sulphide and manganese crusts on the Norwegian continental shelf. Geological conditions make our shelf fertile ground for seafloor minerals. OD has been involved in mapping seafloor minerals since the early 2000s, Dahle continues to tell Rogaland’s Avis.

From July 1, 2019 entered Seabed Minerals Law By force. The law facilitates the search for and extraction of mineral deposits on the Norwegian continental shelf. Now it is Issue concerning the opening of the area and the management strategy for mineral deposits on the Norwegian continental shelf Under consideration by Parliament’s Energy and Environment Committee, a final decision is expected on January 9, 2024.

Kirsti Dahle is Director of Technology, Analysis and Coexistence at the Petroleum Directorate, which will soon change its name to the Norwegian Continental Shelf Directorate (Oil Directorate)

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Minerals and minerals for green technology

So what are seafloor minerals?

Yes, seafloor minerals are, among other things, sulfide and manganese crusts that form in the deep parts of the ocean. On the Norwegian continental shelf we have sulphide and manganese crusts. They contain minerals and minerals that are important in the technology we surround ourselves with today, such as batteries, wind turbines, computers and cell phones. NPD.

As new industries emerged, the need for some items increased. These materials include, among others, lithium, cobalt, nickel, manganese and other rare earths.

The above element is therefore present in seafloor sediments, and NPD analyzes of sulphides so far show a higher proportion of sulphides on the Norwegian continental shelf than elsewhere in the world. These are important minerals when we want to electrify society to a greater extent than before, and they are required by industry.

We are now in the energy transition phase. In the coming years, a lot of money will be transferred to green energy. This will increase the physical needs for wind, solar and batteries. These new green value chains require large amounts of minerals and metals, so we have to find new sources of what we need, Anders Bjerga of Ernst & Young (EY) tells RA.

Seabed minerals are important in the production of electric car batteries, among other things (Jorm Kallistad/NTB Tema)

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Norway has a unique position

Commissioned by NPD, EY studied the impacts and value creation opportunities of marine mineral extraction in Norwegian offshore areas. Their report is part of an ongoing impact assessment.

– It may take 12 to 16 years to start new mines to extract the minerals we need for the energy transition. Given today’s development and technology, it is not certain that we can rely on getting all the minerals we need from them nationMine alone. This is where seafloor minerals can play an important role, Berga says.

Norway is in a unique position in many ways to extract seabed minerals. We are already a global leader in offshore operations and resource extraction from the sea, and have rights to any mineral deposits on our shelves.

– The green shift is currently “charcoal black”.

By 2020, nearly 20,000 tons of cobalt will be used in green technology, says Eric Mele, senior analyst at Danske Bank. This need may increase ten to twenty times in the coming period, in addition to the need for lithium will also increase significantly, according to him.

– Therefore, green technology will use more cobalt than we are producing in total as of today, so we will have to extract much more than we do now. But I think we should look at more alternatives to batteries, for example combining wind, solar, nuclear and hydrogen. Then the need for minerals decreases, Millie tells RA.

The question is: what is the alternative? The 500-kilogram battery requires about 250 tons of raw materials, which are currently extracted using coal. I can say that the green transition is currently “coal black,” as one analyst says, as one tabloid puts it.

He believes we will have to live with oil and gas for longer than we set as our goal.

– However, I think it is necessary to create a strong industry around all green technologies, including seabed minerals, he says.

Eric Mele is a senior analyst at Danske Bank (Danske Bank)

Critical ecological hypothesis

Many environmental organizations are concerned about the extraction and processing of seabed minerals, and Offshore Norway understands these doubts.

– That’s why we walk along the path step by step to We begin a kind of recovery. I still think that categorical negativity is not good, as we are facing an energy crisis that Norway can contribute to solving, says Toven.

Bjerga at EY also points out that before we can start extracting minerals, significant preliminary work must be done to ensure environmental conditions are controlled.

-We cannot risk destroying ecosystems and unknown areas. For there to be a “license to operate” for the industry, it must be able to deliver metals and metals with a smaller footprint than terrestrial minerals, says Bjerga.

– No commercial activity is without an impact on the environment. There is a lot we don’t know, but what we do know is that there are large amounts of seafloor minerals on the Norwegian shelf. Now we depend on finding the most sustainable and environmentally friendly way to extract these minerals. It’s a critical precursor to moving forward, says Dahle in organizational development.