Arctic resources are becoming increasingly important, with many nations looking to exploit the region’s abundant coal, oil, gas, and mineral reserves.
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Recent technological advances, changing climactic conditions, and receding sea ice have made Arctic resources more accessible than before, leading to what many see as a 21st-century “gold rush” to extract many of the economically important metals, minerals, and hydrocarbons locked up in the Arctic tundra and oceans.
But, due to the fragile nature of the Arctic, there are critical concerns about the widespread environmental impact of mining in the region. Balancing the need for dwindling resources with the potential impact of resource exploration in one of the world's last great, largely unspoiled wildernesses has become a hugely sensitive issue.
This article will explore Arctic mining and its opportunities, challenges, environmental considerations, and future.
Opportunities in Arctic Mining
Mining in the Arctic region traces back to the 17th century when coal was mined in the Svalbard archipelago in Norway. Since then, numerous industrially and economically important mineral resources have been discovered and exploited. Russia discovered silver and gold in the 18th century, the Canadian Gold Rush of the 19th century, and oil and natural gas in several areas in the 20th century.1
Several rare-earth elements, such as neodymium and terbium, critical for modern industries, including the electronics sector, are present in incomparable amounts in the Arctic. Significant volumes of minerals such as zinc, gold, lead, and iron, precious stones such as rubies and diamonds, and even construction materials, such as sand and gravel, are found in the region.1
The main players in the Arctic region are Canada, the United States, Russia, and the Nordic nations. Canada is the third-largest producer of rough diamonds in the world, Alaska produces 12 percent of the world’s coal, Russia extracts 40% of the world’s palladium, and Sweden produces 93% of the EU’s iron ore.1 Half of the income of Canada’s Northwest Territories comes from mining.
The economic opportunities locked up in the Arctic tundra and oceans are vast: changing climactic conditions and the retreating sea ice open areas of the Arctic previously inaccessible to mining companies. In recent years, for example, more than 400 oil and gas fields have been discovered north of the Arctic Circle.2
Huge opportunities for mineral extraction exist deep in the Arctic Ocean. According to the WWF, Norway has recently announced plans to mine the deep sea bed, with a proposal to open up 281,000 km2 of the Arctic ocean floor, an area nearly as big as that of the Scandinavian nation’s mainland.3 Mining in the Arctic would have huge benefits for economic development and job creation.
Innovative technologies play a key role in Arctic mining. Improved ice-breaking ships, aided by new sea routes opening due to melting sea ice, have made accessing and exploring remote areas easier. Autonomous vehicles with advanced technologies like LiDAR, sensors, and AI are emerging as crucial Arctic mining equipment.
Challenges in Arctic Mining
While extracting the Arctic’s mineral, metal, and hydrocarbon resources presents substantial economic and technological opportunities, the field is fraught with challenges. Despite the challenges, mining the Arctic for resources such as lithium, for example, is seen as crucial for the energy transition to a green future.
Firstly, the Arctic landscape is notoriously difficult to explore, with many remote and largely inaccessible regions presenting huge logistical and technical challenges for mining companies. Permanent ice sheets make reaching these areas extraordinarily difficult, for instance.
Additionally, extracting and sending the resources back to areas where they can be used requires vast infrastructure, such as ports, roads, rail networks, communication networks, the mines themselves, and permanent housing for miners and other workers within the mining industry.
Mining companies also need to address huge regulatory, legal, and environmental challenges to make large-scale mining operations in the Arctic feasible. Many observers, such as Greenpeace and the WWF, are concerned about the impact of mining on fragile and largely unspoiled ecosystems.
Regional and geopolitical tensions concerning the Arctic also persist, causing further challenges. The Arctic is largely controlled by a handful of nations, with resources largely present within national borders. Companies should be mindful of these geopolitical tensions and the needs of Indigenous communities that rely on local resources and biodiversity to support themselves.
In short, if large-scale mining of the critical resources contained in the Arctic is to be successful, companies need to consider a plethora of technical, socioeconomic, environmental, ethical, and sociopolitical issues and challenges.
Environmental Considerations
Mining the Arctic for valuable minerals and metals is a controversial and polarizing subject, mainly because of its potential environmental impacts. The Arctic is home to many species which would be negatively affected by mining operations, as well as many Indigenous populations. Pollution and emissions from mining operations in the Arctic could also hasten climate change.
Take the aforementioned deep ocean mining proposed by the Norwegian government in 2023.3. Aside from the environmental impact on vulnerable marine ecosystems and the biodiversity they support, the WWF warned that the proposals could break international laws and conventions, such as the High Sea Treaty.
Any potential mining operation in the Arctic should consider its environmental impact. With sustainability such a hot button topic within the mining sector currently, the vast benefits of recovering critical resources such as rare-earth elements should not come at the cost of fragile ecosystems, biodiversity, local Indigenous populations, and negative climate impacts.
Furthermore, sustainable practices should be front and center in Arctic mining: renewable energy, mining area rehabilitation, green technologies, and adherence to international environmental standards and agreements are vital if the benefits of Arctic mining are to be maximized.
In Summary
The Arctic is one of the last great frontiers on Earth. Incomparable reserves of resources critical for modern industry, such as rare-earth elements, economically and technologically essential metals, including gold and palladium, and hydrocarbons, such as oil and natural gas, have focused significant attention on this emerging field within the mining industry.
A changing climate and innovative, improved mining technologies have made these resources more accessible, but many scientists and experts agree that exploiting them could hasten climate change and cause the collapse of fragile ecosystems and biodiversity. If the full opportunities of Arctic mining are to be realized, the benefits should not come at the expense of the environment and sustainability.
Continue Reading: How Do We Produce Future Green Technology Without Damaging Seabeds?
Further Reading and More Information
- The Arctic Review (2022) Minerals and Mining [online] Available at: https://arctic.review/economy/minerals-and-mining/ (Accessed on 15th June 2024)
- Rowe, M (2022) Arctic nations are squaring up to exploit the region’s rich natural resources [online] Geographical. Available at: https://geographical.co.uk/geopolitics/the-world-is-gearing-up-to-mine-the-arctic (Accessed on 15th June 2024)
- Dusik, J (2023) Norway’s approval of arctic deep seabed mining could collide with international law [online] World Wide Fund for Nature. Available at: https://www.arcticwwf.org/newsroom/features/norways-approval-of-arctic-deep-seabed-mining-could-collide-with-international-law/ (Accessed on 15th June 2024)
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