Key points
- Norway’s parliament opened its continental shelf to deep-sea mineral exploration on January 9, 2024, and Green Minerals expects to win its first license in the first half of 2025, with production targeted to begin in 2028.
- The company holds $50 million worth of exploration data transferred at no cost from Norway’s offshore directorate, and projects a capex of $17,000 per ton of copper produced, compared with $330,000 for onshore mining.
- Based on a production rate of 1.5 million tons of ore per year at a 5% average copper grade, Green Minerals forecasts annual company EBITDA of $176 million and a pre-tax payback period of four months.
- Seabed samples from prospects along the Mohns Ridge have shown copper grades up to 14.3% and cobalt up to 19%, with one bulk sample from the Knipovich Ridge area showing 29.5% copper.
