An offshore platform in Norway - Credit:Jone Gundersen/AdobeStock
Norway s oil and gas reserves have made it one of the world s wealthiest countries but its dreams for deep-sea discovery now center on something different.
This time, Oslo is looking for a leading role in mining copper, zinc, and other metals found on the seabed and in hot demand in green technologies.
Norway could license companies for deep-sea mining as early as 2023, its oil and energy ministry told Reuters, potentially placing it among the first countries to harvest seabed metals for electric vehicle batteries, wind turbines, and solar farms.
That could also place it on the front line of a controversy over the environmental risks posed by exploiting the world s unexplored seabeds, however.