Deep-sea mining

1 Sept

The 29th Session of the International Seabed Authority closed in early August with an important decision: there will be a new Secretary-General of the Authority. Leticia Reis de Carvalho, a Brazilian national, oceanographer and UNEP Chief of Branch for the Ecosystems Division for Latin America and the Caribbean, will replace the incumbent Michael Lodge from 1 January 2025. This is being seen as a win for the ocean, with the new head expected to pursue an agenda in which protection of the marine environment is given a stronger role. Over the course of the meeting, negotiators from the 169 States which are party to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea continued work on the Mining Code, completing the first read-through of the consolidated text of draft exploitation regulations, but much work remains on controversial issues that attract divergent opinions. ISA Council members aim to complete exploitation regulations for deep-sea mining by the 30th session in 2025 - without them seabed mining shouldn’t take place. The Council is split: some States are strong advocates of deep-sea mining whilst a growing number of States, companies, scientists, NGOs and civil society organizations are calling for a precautionary pause, moratorium (or even an outright ban) on seabed mining until more research on the impact of mining on deep-sea ecosystems has been carried out. With applications to mine the seabed from Nauru/The Metals Company and China in the pipeline, it is still not clear how the Legal and Technical Commission of the ISA will react when the applications are submitted. Discussions were held at the session regarding the need to establish a general policy for the protection and preservation of the marine environment but consensus on whether to do so remained elusive.

Read the ENB meeting report here.

breaking it down: the rush to mine the deep seabed

See the seabed mining page for a general introduction to the topic.

The extraction of seabed minerals from the ocean floor is seen by some as the way forward in our transition away from fossil fuels. Batteries, solar panels and wind turbines all need metals and minerals which can be found in the polymetalic nodules lying on the ocean floor. By ‘harvesting’ these nodules we can extract cobalt, lithium, copper, zinc, iron, nickel and maganese as well as rare earth elements and thereby reduce the necessity for land-based mining in parts of the world where human rights and child labour issues cause concern.

The International Seabed Authority (ISA) has been working on the Mining Code since 2014, this is the regulatory framework for prospecting, exploration and exploration of the Area (the ocean floor beyond national jurisdiction), which should be in place before any extractive activity may take place.

Progress is slow (and the aim to complete it by 2025 perhaps optimistic), which prompted action from Nauru, working together with The Metals Company (TMC). According to TMC’s website, the ISA granted a polymetallic nodule exploration contract in the Clarion Clipperton Zone to Nauru in 2011. Since then, in close partnership with Nauru and working with leading researchers and institutions, NORI (Nauru Ocean Resources, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of TMC) has progressed with a comprehensive seabed-to-surface research program in one of its designated areas, NORI-D. Representing 22% of TMC’s estimated resource in the CCZ, the NORI license area is ranked as having the largest undeveloped nickel deposit in the world.

Eager to push on with extraction, on 25 June 2021 the President of Nauru, H.E. Mr. Lionel Aingimea, requested the Council of the ISA to complete the adoption of the rules, regulations and procedures necessary to facilitate the approval of plans of work for exploitation in the Area pursuant to Section 1, paragraph 15 of the 1994 Agreement relating to the Implementation of Part XI of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. This basically meanstthat the ISA needed to complete drafting the Mining Code within two years, with a deadline of 9 July 2023.

In the meantime, on 22 July 2022, Nauru Ocean Resources Inc. (NORI), a subsidiary of The Metals Company, was granted a polymetallic nodule exploration contract concerning 4 areas in the Clarion Clipperton Zone (CCZ), sponsored by the government of the Republic of Nauru. NORI are now able to conduct tests of mining components and their integration onboard its vessel Hidden Gem. and is requested to report on the result of the tests in the context of its annual report. NORI’s website outlines their plans. With an exploitation contract application submission expected for the second half of 2023, by 2024 Project Zero will involve small-scale commercial production with Project One, involving larger-scale production expected to begin in 2025.

The deadline has passed, the MIning Code has yet to be completed, and with applications to mine the seabed from Nauru/The Metals Company and China in the pipeline, it is still not clear how the Legal and Technical Commission of the ISA will react when the applications are submitted. In the meantime, the Council is split: some States are strong advocates of deep-sea mining whilst a growing number of States, companies, scientists, NGOs and civil society organizations are calling for a precautionary pause, moratorium or outright ban on seabed mining until more research on the impact of mining on deep-sea ecosystems has been carried out.

Find out more about seabed mining here.