They didn't do all those seabed surveys* just to satisfy their inner Magellan (or Amundsen.)
From Semafor, January 10:
The News....MUCH MORE
Norway has become the first country to allow for commercial-scale deep-sea mining. On Tuesday, the Norwegian Parliament approved a controversial plan to open up 280,000 square kilometers (108,000 sq miles) of Norway’s northern waters for potential mining.The Norwegian government has assessed that there are millions of metric tons of copper, cobalt, zinc, and thousands of tons of rare earth minerals on the sea bed, estimated to have a value of almost $100 billion. The minerals could help foster Norway’s green industry as the country seeks to gradually phase out its oil and gas production, and provide key resources for the green transition.
Even so, the government has faced stiff opposition from climate organizations and parties to the left of Norway’s center-left governing coalition, who warned that the mining could be catastrophic for marine life.
‘Embarrassing’ to see Oslo greenlight the destruction of the Arctic
Sources: Dagens Næringsliv, Forskning.no, NRKGreenpeace said it was “embarrassing” to see Norway — a major oil exporter that nevertheless produces more than 70% of its electricity from renewable sources — try to position itself as a climate champion while approving “the destruction of Arctic waters.” The government itself was reportedly divided on the decision: The Ministry of Climate and Environment, as well as the Foreign Ministry and the Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Fisheries were skeptical of the decision, the financial newspaper Dagens Næringsliv reported....
*Previously:
September 2023
"Explainer: Why does Norway want to mine the seabed?"
June 23
"Norway to open its waters to deep-sea mining"
June 9
"Norway seeks to open vast ocean area to deep-sea mining"
May 21
Norway Finds A Methane-Spewing Mud Volcano
January 29
"Norway finds 'substantial' mineral resources on its seabed"
January 23
More Land For Norway
No, not by invading Finland, Norway already did that. And the Finns were tallying the upside of annexation: NATO membership, Royal family, oil revenues etc.
The
number of submarine volcanoes around the world is still pretty much
unknown. One study extrapolated a small census out to three million of
the damn things if you count the inactive ones. Links after the
jump....
August 2018
"Norway to Map Deep Sea Mineral Deposits"
September 2019
Norway's Petroleum Directorate Completes Second Seabed MINERALS Expedition
August 2020
"The rush to claim an undersea mountain range"
August 2020
The Most Detailed Map of The Arctic Seabed Has Been Published
January 2021
"Norway eyeing deep-sea metal mining future instead of oil"
Gotta
keep an eye on the blue-eyed Arabs of the North. Here's their claim for
a hunk of freakin' Antarctica, from the Daily Mail's This is London:
(Does anyone else see Mickey Mouse?)
