By AFP - Agence France Presse
Companies complain about delays in deep-sea mining rules
by AFP Staff Writers
United Nations, United States (AFP) January 19, 2025
Companies that are investing heavily to explore the seabed for valuable minerals have criticized long delays in drafting deep-sea mining rules, calling on an international ocean watchdog in a letter sent this week to approve the regulations this year.
According to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, the International Seabed Authority (ISA), based in Jamaica, is responsible both for protecting the seabed in areas beyond national jurisdiction and for overseeing any exploration or exploitation of coveted mineral resources in these zones.
The ISA Council, which for the time being only grants exploration contracts, has been drawing up rules for commercial exploitation for more than a decade.
Since July 2023, due to a legal clause invoked by the small island nation of Nauru in the Pacific, and despite the lack of rules, any country can apply for a mining contract on behalf of a company it sponsors.
The Council intends to adopt a mining code this year that would end the legal vacuum, establishing rules for the exploration of the ocean floor in search of minerals such as nickel, cobalt, and copper, which, according to some companies, are crucial for a global transition to renewable energy.
But “there is no guarantee that the Exploration Regulations will be adopted in 2025, putting contractors (companies with exploration contracts) in an increasingly difficult position,” eight companies wrote in a letter to the ISA Council this week, which was obtained by AFP on Friday.
The companies include Nauru Ocean Resources Inc., a subsidiary of Canada's The Metals Company (TMC), which expects to submit its first exploration application in June.
“With this letter, we wish to express our concerns regarding the delay in the transition to the exploration phase,” the companies wrote, asking the Council to finalize the regulations by 2025.
They said they made investments based on “legitimate expectations” that depended on the ISA's legal framework, which provides for a transition from exploration to exploitation rules.
The companies said their collective investments amounted to around $2 billion for the exploration of deep-sea mineral resources, the acquisition of environmental data, and the development of mining and processing technologies.
The “prolonged delay” in adopting the mining code and the “possible willingness of the ISA, including some of its member states, not to comply with this Legal Framework and meet these expectations is deeply concerning”, the companies said.
Without mining regulations, the companies “face increasing legal and financial risks that were not foreseen or expected at the time we made our investments”, the letter said, denouncing the “unfair burden”.
Some 30 countries, out of the 169 member states of the ISA, have called for a moratorium on deep-sea mining, with NGOs and scientists warning of the possible risks the activity poses to little-known underwater ecosystems.
abd/bpe/sco/mtp
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