USD 7.1 millon to realise the deep-sea mineral potential
The Green Platform project ‘Seabed minerals – Accelerating the energy transition’, has been awarded USD 7.1 million from the Research Council of Norway, Innovation Norway and Siva.
The digitalisation and transition to clean energy systems means a vast increase in the demand for minerals. The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that the need for energy transmitting minerals will increase 40-fold over the next two decades. At the same time, the world faces a global increase in temperature and lack of fresh water supply. The established mining industry is a large consumer of water and 50% of the global production of copper and lithium is in areas with already high water stress levels.
The project aims to create a basis for a more sustainable mining industry. An industry that will extract minerals from the seabed where the concentration is 5-10 times higher and without putting extra pressure on already high water stress levels. The main goal of the project is to establish the basis for a complete value chain for seabed minerals with the goal of significant less environmental footprint compared to current terrestrial mining. Seabed Solutions will contribute to the project with +20 years of technical and operational experience from the development of powerful seabed machines.
During the project, new technologies will be tested and concepts for sustainable extraction of seabed minerals will be developed. Managing Director of Seabed Solutions, Christian Aas, is very happy with the grant. “It’s always a priveledge to work with highly dedicated partners”, he says. “We look very much forward to the project and to contribute to more sustainable mining of important minerals.” Since Seabed Solutions has operated their own equipment, operational experiences has been transferred into the building of new machines. Knowledge that will prove valuable in the development seabed mining machines.
The innovation project will be lead by Adepth Minerals and will demonstrate world-leading technology and methodology for environmental and resource mapping, along with environmentally friendly production and processing. This will contribute to responsible utilisation of seabed mineral deposits, increase value creation, and strengthen Norway’s export opportunities in a large and growing international market.
“We are very humble and grateful for the Green Platform support from the Research Council of Norway, Innovation Norway and Siva”, says Anette Broch Mathisen Tvedt, CEO of Adepth Minerals and Project Manager for the consortium. “The support from Innovation Norway, SIVA and The Norwegian Research Council gives us the opportunity to accelerate the acquisition of knowledge and answer key questions related to the new industry.”
The consortium that will establish the basis of a more sustainable supply chain consist of Adepth Minerals, DeepOcean, Seabed Solutions, NOV, Aanderaa, Shearwater Geoservice, AkerBP, Geoprovider, GCE Ocean Technology University in Bergen, NTNU, Akvaplan-niva, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, NORCE, and Future Materials Catapult Centre.