May/June 2021 · Volume 6, Issue 4

A pivotal moment in the history of deep-sea mining

Featured Images: Sponges settled on a polymetallic nodule at a historic deep-sea mining test site off the coast of Florida. Photo courtesy NOAA.

Andrew Thaler for the Deep-sea Mining Observer

The spring and summer of 2021 will likely stand as the pivotal moment in the history of deep-sea mining. Months of intense protest amidst significant at-sea progress on environmental impact studies and prototype testing were capped off earlier this week by the explosive announcement that the Republic of Nauru, sponsoring state of Nauru Ocean Resources Inc, a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Metals Company (formerly DeepGreen), was invoking Article 15 triggering the 2-year countdown to complete the Mining Code.

An apparent sea change in the relationship between mining contractors, environmental NGOs, and other stakeholders, began in late March, when the Worldwide Fund for Nature announced a new campaign to get major corporations to pledge to exclude minerals produced from the deep sea from their supply chains until the impacts to the ocean were more thoroughly understood. These companies included BMW and Volvo, which have a major stake in electric vehicle manufacturing, and Samsung SDI, who produce small cell lithium batteries for electronic devices.

That announcement came just days before both GSR and The Metals Company were preparing for at-sea campaigns to continue their environmental baseline work and prototype nodule collector testing in the Clarion Clipperton Zone. The Metals Company’s Expedition 5B was one of several research cruises conducted over the last few years as part of a comprehensive plan to characterize the ecosystems, including pelagic communities, around their polymetallic nodule leases in the NORI-D contract areas and assess the potential impacts of their eventual nodule extraction operations. As DeepGreen, The Metals Company had previously lent the use of their ship, the Maersk Launcher, to the high seas plastic collection program The Ocean Cleanup.

Only days later, GSR launched its own four-week research campaign in collaboration with the EU MiningImpact program. During a month at sea, they tested the Patania II nodule collector prototype. The Patania II did suffer an engineering failure during sea trials which left the collector detached on the seafloor for several days before successful recovery to the surface, a scenario which is not unexpected during prototype testing. “This is pioneering engineering work and we were prepared for multiple eventualities.” said Kris Van Nijen, Managing Director of GSR in a press release. “…we were able to reconnect Patania II and we look forward to completing the mission, including further deployments of Patania II.”

From the Editor: The Poison Pill of Article 15

It has certainly been an eventful summer for deep-sea mining, and no moment has been quite so eventful as this week. In the interest of disclosure, while the Deep-sea Mining Observer strives to provide, if not unbiased, then at least equitably distributed, coverage of stakeholder interests within the deep-sea mining community, the writers and editors are, of course, not without our own, individual biases. As Editor-in-Chief, my goal has been to promote the development of the best possible Mining Code, based on the best available knowledge.

I do not see a clear path towards achieving that goal under the ticking clock of Article 15.

While the environmental NGOs are currently struggling to adapt and respond to the Republic of Nauru’s invocation of Article 15 to expedite the process of finalizing a mining code, ultimately, it will be the contractors who will have to cope with the fallout. Even if, 2 years from now, the finalized mining code is substantively identical to what would have been produced through the established process, and likely not all that much sooner, a mining code written under the urgency of Article 15 will contain a poison pill. That mining code will forever bear the footnote that it was produced under duress, rushed to completion during a global pandemic while many member states are still coping with the third, fourth, or fifth wave of an evolving virus and inequitable vaccine access.

It will expose contractors to significantly greater legal challenges and increasingly effective oppositional campaigns.

I wasn’t present at the ISA negotiations for exploration licensing, but I did contribute, indirectly, to the Regulations on Prospecting and Exploration for Polymetallic Sulphides in the Area through my scientific research at Solwara I and through workshops and consultations with Nautilus Minerals. Though often contentious, and though no one left completely satisfied with the outcome, the deep-sea mining community produced a document that represented consensus and compromise among a diverse and often contentious stakeholder community.

It is unfortunate that the first regulations to permit the exploitation of seabed resources in areas beyond national jurisdiction will not follow the precedent already set by the International Seabed Authority.

A history of harm mitigation in the evolution of deep-sea mining technology

Featured Image: Pilot nodule collector deployed by Lockheed in the 1970s.

Maria Bolevich for the Deep-sea Mining Observer

Earlier this year, a team of scientists from Ocean University of China reviewed the development of key deep-sea mining technologies in A brief review of recent progress on deep sea mining vehicle. The study presented a series of new potential technologies to reduce the environmental footprint of deep-sea mining, including a new pile-leg walking mining robot that has improved stability and efficiency while protecting the living environment in the mining area. In January 2021, a new mining tool, Collector 2.0, was tested with promising results. Though these new nodule collector systems show steady evolution, the questions of whether deep-sea mining technology can deliver a light touch to the sea floor and if the International Seabed Authority can ensure that deep seabed mining activities are developed in an environmentally friendly manner remain open.

Historian Ole Sparenberg believes that the basic approach to deep-sea mining does not seem to have changed much in the last half century. “Already in 1960, the visionary and pioneer of [deep-see mining], John Mero, realized that dredging would not work for the commercial mining of manganese nodules. A continuous process was required, and he already thought of a ‘giant vacuum cleaner’ to suck up the nodules and pump them via a vertical pipe string to the mining vessel at the ocean surface.” Though the basic principle of nodule collection is still largely similar to systems proposed 50 years ago, “the perception of the seafloor,” says Sparenberg “has changed.” In the past, argues Sparenberg, deep-sea mining technologies were designed with no regard for the seafloor fauna, a striking departure from today’s environmental concerns.

Why we’re calling on the United Nations to Protect Biodiversity Beyond Borders

Featured photo: Courtesy NOAA.

Rebecca Helm, Nichola Clark, and Diva Amon for the Deep-sea Mining Observer

The High Seas cover nearly half of Earth’s surface, and hold over 90% of livable habitat on the planet. Yet the High Seas fall under no single nation’s jurisdiction (similar to the ‘Area Beyond National Jurisdiction’ (ABNJ)), and as a result, governance of this region falls to the United Nations. While some industries on the High Seas have been operating for decades, like fisheries, others, like deep-seabed mining, are just beginning. We believe a measured and holistic approach must be taken on the High Seas in order to protect and conserve this hidden half of Earth. In our letter to the United Nations, published this month in the journal Science, we make three recommendations that should be implemented to protect biodiversity and secure a healthy equitable ocean that serves the needs of current and future generations. These include: 1) creating a network of fully-protected marine protected areas in ecologically diverse and important locations, 2) a re-imagining of environmental impact assessments and monitoring tools, and 3) a robust international institutional framework to enable the successful implementation of these safeguards. These tools should be incorporated into the Biodiversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) treaty, which has final negotiations tentatively scheduled for 2022.

Those in-the-know may be wondering: what does this have to do with deep-seabed mining? After all, the United Nations Law of the Sea Convention (UNCLOS) very clearly gives the International Seabed Authority (ISA) exclusive jurisdiction over mineral and non-living resources of the Area, however, the entity responsible for managing the living resources on the seafloor is murkier. Negotiators of the new BBNJ treaty are charged with creating an Agreement that would enable the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction broadly, which includes both the High Seas and the ABNJ. The BBNJ treaty can provide a lens through which we manage our oceans via a more realistic and holistic perspective. While some are concerned that this treaty will complicate international ocean governance and make the work of existing organizations, like the ISA, more challenging, many institutions that currently govern resources of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction already undermine, or have the potential to undermine, each other. Far from creating more conflict, the BBNJ provides a potential solution to some of these challenges.

Washington State bans offshore mining in state waters

Featured Image: Map of the USA highlighting Washington State.

Andrew Thaler for the Deep-sea Mining Observer

One of the more curious chapters in the history of deep-sea mining occurred last month, when the Washington State legislature passed a law effectively banning seabed mining for hard minerals within state waters. Senate Bill 5145, which passed near-unanimously in the Washington State Senate and House of Representatives prevents the state from issuing mining leases for hard minerals within Washington state’s waters. Hard minerals includes any natural deposit of metals and placer deposits of metals, as well as a host of other valuable minerals. The area extends out to 3 miles from shore, encompassing relatively little deep seabed.

Notably the ban does not apply to rock, gravel, sand, silt, coal, or hydrocarbons, all of which are currently exploited within state waters.

Proponents of the bill highlight that much of seabed mining is still experimental and that the environmental impacts are largely unknown, especially when looking at the potential impacts to coastal ecosystems when mining happens closer to shore. Deep-sea cold-water coral reefs, as well as nursery grounds that support commercially important fish species could be at risk from direct impacts of mining, as well as indirect impacts from the mining plume and from noise produced by submerged mining tools, among other concerns.

Deep-sea Mining in the News

A Mining Startup’s Rush for Underwater Metals Comes With Deep Risks

(Bloomberg) DeepGreen built a nearly $3 billion valuation on the dream of gently excavating the ocean floor. Now environmentalists want to block its plans to go public.

A Mining Code for the Deep Sea

(Hakai Magazine) The clock is ticking on the International Seabed Authority to finish its new exploitation regulations for deep-sea mining.

(The Guardian) Deep-sea mining could start in two years after Pacific nation of Nauru gives UN ultimatum
(Radio New Zealand) Deep sea mining by 2023 gets green light in Pacific
(Radio New Zealand) Nauru urged to reverse deep sea mining push
(News Click) India’s Deep Ocean Mission: A Literal Race to the Bottom
(New Statesman) The fragile beauty of the deep sea
(Reuters) Pacific island of Nauru sets two-year deadline for U.N. deep-sea mining rules

Career and Consulting Opportunities

Applications are now open for four online engineering training opportunities for candidates from developing States Members of the International Seabed Authority (ISA). The placements are provided by China Minmetals Corporation (CMC), in accordance with its obligations under its exploration contract for polymetallic nodules with ISA.

Applications now open for four online engineering training opportunities with China Minmetals Corporation

The International Seabed Authority (ISA) is seeking one or two consultant(s) with a background in social sciences, gender, sustainable development, science policy or related fields and requisite experience in gender data collection and analysis and/or with a good knowledge and understanding of the marine science research sector/deep-sea research or related fields.

Call for consultant(s) to undertake a gender-mapping and identification of critical barriers to the participation of women from LDCs, LLDCs and SIDS in deep-sea related research disciplines and activities

Opinion: The Precarious Partnership Between Deep-sea Mining Contractors and Environmental NGOs

Opinion by Andrew Thaler, DSMO Editor-in-Chief

Deep-sea mining occupies a unique niche in the annals of extractive exploration. Its modern manifestation owes as much to the surging demand of critical minerals as it does to the work of environmental organizations shining a light on the vast environmental and ethical catastrophes of terrestrial mining. In its current form, deep-sea mining is an industry motivated by the need to rapidly wean ourselves from fossil fuels. It is, in short, an industrial response to an environmental crisis.

Whether or not it is the right response, for whatever “right” means in the midst of a global crisis while the clock is ticking, remains to be proven. No plans of work have been approved and no mining licenses have been issued by the International Seabed Authority for Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction. What few attempts have been made in territorial waters have not reached production or have collapsed under the complexity of the operation. Deep-sea mining is an industry that has been perpetually just over the horizon. That horizon creeps closer every year.

There is an precarious partnership between deep-sea mining contractors and environmental NGOs, two entities with wildly differing views of what the world needs to reach sustainable development, but a recognition, at least in principle, that negotiation and compromise are possible. Even the calls for moratoria leave room for the possibility that deep-sea mining can be shown to be sustainable.