Deep-sea mining could begin in international waters as early as next year, yet policymakers are still disputing how to govern such activities.

Between March 18 and 29, representatives from the 36 member states of the council of the International Seabed Authority (ISA), the U.N.-affiliated regulator of deep-sea mining activities in international waters, met for talks in Kingston, Jamaica. One focus of discussion was the ongoing revision of the exploitation regulations, which are still in draft form. Often referred to as the “mining code,” these regulations, once completed, will govern how miners can prospect, explore and exploit mineral resources on the seabed in international waters.

In July 2023, representatives of ISA member states agreed to a road map with a view of finalizing the regulations by July 2025, although some state representatives and civil society members have said they don’t believe this deadline will be met.

Canadian deep-sea mining firm The Metals Company (TMC), however, anticipates that the mining regulations will be completed on time. Since last year, TMC representatives have stated that the company intends to submit an application for a mining exploitation license in 2024, right after the next set of ISA meetings that will take place in July, which is at least one year before the regulations might be completed, with a view of starting to mine in 2025. To date, mining exploitation has not started anywhere in the world, so TMC could be the first to begin. Last week, a TMC spokesperson told Mongabay that its plans have not changed.

For conservation experts, the prospect of deep-sea mining beginning in the near future is worrying.

Mining the deep ocean

Should we mine the deep sea? Advocates say it’s not only necessary, but inevitable. A common argument for seabed mining is the need for critical minerals for the development of renewable energy technologies, which will help society become less dependent on fossil fuels and fight climate change.

At the moment, most of the mining interest in international waters is focused on an area of the ocean known as the Clarion Clipperton Zone (CCZ), a long stretch of mineral-rich seabed in the Pacific Ocean between Mexico and Hawai‘i. Most of the CCZ consists of abyssal plains — extensive, nearly flat expanses of the ocean floor — that are peppered with polymetallic nodules, tuber-shaped rocks that contain high concentrations of minerals such as cobalt, nickel, copper and manganese. To date, the ISA has granted 17 licenses for mining exploration in the CCZ.

Besides the CCZ, ISA member states and companies are exploring other parts of the international seabed, including the Central Indian Ocean Basin, Western Pacific Ocean, the South West Indian Ridge, Central Indian Ridge, and the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Some nations, including Norway, the Cook Islands, Papua New Guinea and Japan, are also looking to mine in their own territorial waters and along their extended continental shelves.

However, many scientists and conservationists argue that deep-sea mining would be an environmental disaster. More than 800 marine science and policy experts signed a statement that calls for a pause on deep-sea mining, saying it would place considerable stress on marine ecosystems that are already threatened by other things like climate change, bottom trawling, and pollution. If deep-sea mining is added to the mix, the statement says, there could be a “loss of biodiversity and ecosystem functioning that would be irreversible on multi-generational timescales.”

Critics of deep-sea mining also argue that it’s a financially risky activity. A recent report by The Ocean Foundation, an NGO that’s part of the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition (DSCC), a group of organizations that oppose deep-sea mining, suggests the activity is “fraught with technical, financial, and regulatory uncertainty,” and carries “significant potential financial and legal liabilities for both public and private investors.”

Twenty-five states have now called for a precautionary pause, moratorium, or even outright ban on deep-sea mining, the most recent being Denmark, which announced its support for a pause on March 18, the first day of the ISA council meeting.

Despite all of the scientific, environmental and financial concerns, TMC has been pushing for the imminent start of deep-sea mining. This push began, in earnest, when the small island nation of Nauru, which sponsors a subsidiary of TMC known as Nauru Ocean Resources Inc. (NORI), drew on a clause embedded within UNCLOS to try and kick-start deep-sea mining within two years. While that two-year period lapsed in July 2023 without firm mining plans being put into place, TMC still intends to start as soon as possible.

‘Good progress’?

Michael Lodge, the current secretary-general of the ISA, said in an online press briefing on March 27 that he believes member states made “good, positive progress” on the draft regulations at the recent council meeting, and that he expects the road map will guide the ISA’s work “to the point when we can finalize these regulations.”

“It is unrolling in exactly the sort of way that I would have expected it to unroll,” Lodge said in response to a question from Mongabay at the briefing. “I also know that international negotiations of this nature have a remarkable tendency to come together at some point at the end, when everybody is ready.”

Olav Myklebust, a Norwegian diplomat and the elected ISA council president for 2024, said in the same press briefing that there were “diverging views” amongst ISA member states, but also that the negotiations were “moving forward.”

“We have, indeed, made very good progress,” Myklebust said. “But it’s a very open and transparent discussion, and there are very many states and NGOs that have opinions on a number of the paragraphs. That means that it takes time. That’s just the nature of the game.”

However, Matt Gianni, a co-founder of the DSCC who attended the council meeting as an observer, said he doesn’t believe the negotiations are progressing as well as others have stated.

“There are many areas where these negotiations have not progressed, and in some cases have become even more complicated as a result of the discussions over the last two weeks,” Gianni said during an online DSCC press briefing on March 28. For instance, Gianni said that member states are still heavily debating issues such as how the ISA would collect royalty payments for any minerals that are extracted from the seabed; how to put environmental regulations in place; and even how to set up an environmental compensation fund.

“In many respects, the [negotiations] are even farther apart than they were at the beginning of this week, or at the end of the last negotiating session in November of last year,” Gianni said. “And they’ve got a long way to go before they can agree to everything that needs to be agreed and before they can then begin taking on applications for mining. Anyone who says otherwise, in our view, does not accurately characterize the status of these negotiations, as they are at the moment.”

State representatives also raised concerns about the “consolidated text” of the regulatory draft that was presented at the beginning of the meetings, which was meant to provide a compilation of the different proposals put forward by states. On March 18, the first day of negotiations, representatives from Chile and Germany noted that the consolidated text didn’t provide an overview of these different views and that some proposals had even been removed.

On the other hand, a representative from the Chinese delegation said the consolidated text reflected a “consensus reached by all parties” at the last set of meetings. China has supported pushing forward with a start on deep-sea mining. Chinese companies holds five deep-sea mining exploration licenses in international waters, including three in the CCZ.

‘It is causing real problems for them’

During the meetings, there was also a discussion about the environmental NGO Greenpeace’s two-week protest in NORI’s license area of the CCZ, an area known as NORI-D. In December 2023, TMC was conducting research in NORI-D when Greenpeace carried out its protest at sea, during which some activists boarded TMC’s research vessel, the MV Coco.

TMC launched legal action against Greenpeace, and requested an injunction against Greenpeace’s protests. A Dutch court ordered the protesters to disembark from the MV Coco, but it rejected TMC’s request for an injunction against Greenpeace, which upheld the NGO’s right to protest.

Twice during the recent council meeting, Nauru proposed measures that would limit Greenpeace’s ability to protest at sea in the future. The first proposal, forwarded on March 22, attempted to establish 500-meter (1,640-foot) “safety zones” around deep-sea mining vessels operating in international waters. The second, presented on March 28, called on Lodge to discuss with the International Maritime Organization (IMO) the establishment of safety zones around vessels. However, the ISA council rejected both proposals.

“The industry is attempting to silence this kind of protest,” Louisa Casson, global project leader for Greenpeace International’s campaign against deep-sea mining, who also attended the ISA meeting, said in the DSCC press briefing. “It is causing real problems for them. And it’s really worth remembering that Greenpeace’s protest at sea is just one part of a growing movement around the world that is voicing opposition.”

Correction (04/02/2024): An earlier version stated that deep-sea mining could begin as early as this year, when, in fact, it may not start until next year. This fact has been corrected. We regret the error.

Banner image: A brooding squid (Gonatus onyx) and her egg sack in the deep sea. Image by Schmidt Ocean Institute (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).

Elizabeth Claire Alberts is a senior staff writer for Mongabay’s Ocean Desk. Follow her on Mastodon, @[email protected], Blue Sky, @elizabethalberts.bsky.social, and Twitter @ECAlberts.

Deep-sea mining rules delayed two more years; mining start remains unclear