Scandinavian Ocean Minerals (SOM AB) has been granted an exploration permit by the Ministry of Enterprise. The background to the permit is the mineral deposit located on the seabed in the Bothnian Bay.
“The permit gives us the opportunity to take the next step in our vision of creating the conditions for a fossil-free society,” says CEO Peter Lindberg.
The mineral deposit, which consists of so-called manganese nodules, has now been granted an exploration permit for sampling in two operating areas. The total recoverable quantity of nodules in the Bothnian Bay may amount to around 20 million tonnes. When the operation is fully developed, the plan is for about one million tonnes of nodules to be recovered per year. The operation paves the way for a new and unique industry for Sweden, a green offshore industry where climate benefit, geopolitical and commercial interests and jobs can be combined.
“That we have now been given permission to survey the Bothnian Bay is an important political signal. The purpose of the operation is to increase Sweden’s and Europe’s degree of self-sufficiency in innovation-critical minerals needed among other things for the production of batteries and semiconductors,” explains Peter Lindberg.
Minimal environmental impact
The surveys now approved by the Ministry of Enterprise are to ensure that a future recovery of the minerals can be carried out in a sustainable and environmentally friendly way. To succeed in this, SOM AB is developing a technology that enables gentle recovery, so-called harvesting, of the manganese nodules from the seabed in a circulating process with a return of oxygenated water to the bottom. The method is unique and should not be confused with ordinary mining on land or with so-called deep sea mining.
“The manganese nodules are recovered with a gentle technology. You could say we harvest the seabed with our method, which gives less environmental impact than conventional mining,” says Bengt Simonsson, head of research at SOM AB.
The method can also create the conditions for the Baltic Sea to recover
The new way of gently harvesting nodules at the same time means a rescue for the Baltic Sea, whose situation with oxygen-free and polluted seabeds is acute. Through the recovery of seabed sediment the source of eutrophication will be minimised while the seabed is oxygenated, thereby creating the conditions for the Baltic to recover. From the removed seabed sediment, products such as green carbon and silicon can be produced that are decisive for, among other things, fossil-free steelmaking, semiconductors, and the electronics and solar cell industries.
The exploration permit means that samples will be taken at 25 different points within the operating areas for the mapping of the seabed, which does not involve recovering nodules in any large quantity. In the two areas totalling about 450 square kilometres that have been granted exploration permits, 6 to 9 million tonnes of manganese nodules are expected to be present. The manganese nodules consist of 27 different metals and are 90 percent recoverable. Besides high contents of pure iron, manganese, silicon and phosphorus there is, for example, enough cobalt to reduce Sweden’s import needs by 70 percent per year. The project will increase the EU’s degree of self-sufficiency in innovation-critical minerals and reduce the need for imports from authoritarian states.
Peter Lindberg, CEO SOM AB
peter.lindberg@som-ab.se, +46 (0)73-617 95 20
