Are you ready for this year’s deepest dive?

Welcome back to the 3rd annual conference on Deep Sea Minerals, in Bergen, Norway. The first two conferences saw massive attendance by representatives from the nascent deep sea mineral ecosystem, including mining companies, service companies, academia, as well as politicians, environmentalists, authorities, and people with a background in law and finance. Coupled with the need for the industry to network, share and learn from each other and the best, we are confident that another well-attended and exciting conference lies ahead of us.  

Why Bergen, Norway? 

A potential new global industry is emerging. Norway is in a unique position with the possibility to draw upon world-leading petroleum offshore and land-based process industries, to build a complete deep-sea mining value chain. Norway is at the forefront concerning potential resources, regulatory framework, and technology development. The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) has released a resource assessment, confirming the presence of potentially vast mineral resources on the extended Norwegian Continental Shelf.  

To power sustainable exploration and exploitation, it is crucial to have comprehensive knowledge about the environment and the impact of mineral-related activities. The Norwegian government has put forward a parliamentary proposal on opening the extended Norwegian Continental Shelf for mineral activities.  

Internationally, companies are positioning themselves in the Pacific Ocean as the International Seabed Authority is developing exploitation regulations. In the prolific nodule field known as the Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ), one Norwegian company holds exploration licenses through a subsidiary, while another is working towards a license. Elsewhere in the Pacific Ocean, in the Cook Islands, three companies were awarded exploration licenses last year, and this year, the island nation released a mineral resource estimate for their polymetallic nodule field. 

The knowledge and technology building toward exploration and production are accelerating, and we hereby invite companies, institutions, and academia developing new methods, workflows, and technology or showing outstanding results in deep sea minerals research, to submit an abstract that will be evaluated for either oral presentation or poster. All poster presenters get a 5-minute pitch to showcase their frontier work. 

Take the plunge and join us in Bergen in December!