Norway puts on hold its contentious deep-sea mining project.

• Plans to mine the deep sea in a large area of the Arctic have been put on hold by Norway.
• The Socialist Left Party has decided not to support the minority government's budget unless it drops the first licensing round, which was initially scheduled for the first half of next year.
• The Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre characterized the move as a "postponement," while environmental campaigners celebrated it as a "huge win."

Plans to mine the deep sea in a large area of the Arctic have been put on hold by Norway.

The Socialist Left Party has decided not to support the minority government's budget unless it drops the first licensing round for mineral activities, which was initially scheduled for the first half of next year.

Environmental activists hailed the agreement as a "victory" and "a crucial step in preventing this sector from causing harm to marine life."

According to Reuters, Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre characterized the move as a "postponement," as he stated in a private broadcaster TV2 interview on Sunday.

The Labor Party, led by Støre, is the senior party in a minority government coalition with the Center Party in Norway.

Norway is at odds with countries such as Germany, Britain, Canada, and Mexico over its leading role in extracting minerals from the seabed, as these countries have called for a halt to deep-sea mining due to environmental concerns.

Deep-sea mining involves the use of heavy machinery to extract minerals and metals, such as cobalt, nickel, copper, and manganese, from the seabed where they accumulate in potato-sized nodules.

The applications of these minerals are diverse and encompass electric vehicle batteries, wind turbines, and solar panels.

The predicted environmental effects of deep-sea mining are difficult to determine, according to scientists' warnings.

Meanwhile, environmental campaign groups argue that the practice is not sustainable and will ultimately result in ecosystem destruction and species extinction.

In January, Norwegian lawmakers approved a bill to allow deep-sea mining in an area of the Arctic equivalent to Italy, paving the way for companies to apply for mining rights in the country's national waters near the Svalbard archipelago.

In June, Norway's government announced that it would commence the initial licensing round, with the objective of issuing the first exploitation licenses at the beginning of next year.

The postponement of Sunday's licensing round has led to an agreement among government parties to halt the first round of licensing until the end of next year. Norway's parliamentary elections are scheduled for September 2025.

'Truly embarrassing'

The Norwegian government has defended its plans for deep-sea mining, stating that it is a necessary step into the unknown that could help break China and Russia's dominance in rare earths.

"Deep sea mining is incompatible with any government's commitment to sustainable ocean management," Haldis Tjeldflaat Helle, a deep-sea mining campaigner at Greenpeace Nordic, stated.

Helle expressed her embarrassment at seeing Norway claim ocean leadership while simultaneously planning to approve ocean destruction in its own waters.

Norway's energy ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.