Norway may begin granting licenses for deep-sea mineral exploration for copper, zinc, and other metals found on the seabed as early as 2023, Reuters reported Jan. 12, citing the country's oil and energy ministry.

The Nordic country said it was beginning preparations for an environmental impact study, due by the end of 2022, required to open areas of its seabed mineral exploration and production.

The move followed three years of expeditions that yielded discoveries of deep-sea deposits containing copper, zinc, cobalt, gold and silver, plus high concentrations of lithium and scandium.

However, the proposed deep-sea mineral exploration may pose controversial with environmental risks involved in the exploitation of the world's unexplored seabeds.

According to the news wire's report, Norwegian University of Science and Technology researchers are estimating up to 21.7 million tonnes of copper and 22.7 Mt of zinc on the country's continental shelf.