“This is a postponement, not an end to the process,” Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre of the Labour Party said in an interview with private broadcaster TV2.
Shares of Norwegian seabed mining startup Green Minerals plummeted by 40% on the news, closing Monday’s trading session at €0.32 per share (0.34 US). Despite the setback, the company stated that it still anticipates beginning ore extraction by the late 2020s.
World’s first
In January, Norway became the first nation to open its waters to commercial deep-sea mining, despite warnings from environmental groups and the fishing industry about potential threats to vulnerable marine ecosystems. A parliamentary vote, passed 80-20 earlier this year, approved exploration across approximately 280,000 square km (108,000 square miles) of Arctic seabed—an area larger than the United Kingdom.
Environmentalists hailed Norway’s forced pause as a “huge win”….
