11/25/2023 0 Comments Local deadlock definitionFailing to mine these metals, they say, will lead to shortages and slow the renewable transition. Rare-earth metals are used in electric car batteries, cell phones, and wind farms, and are considered essential in transitioning from fossil-fuel vehicles to electric ones. Proponents of deep-sea mining, such as mining companies and countries interested in cashing in on rare-earth metals, contend that the transition to renewables is absolutely dependent on these minerals. These black polymetallic sea nodules-nickel, manganese, and cobalt-rich mineral deposits-are balls that form naturally deep under the sea. The Deep Sea: Mining Resource or Crucial Ecosystem? In 2021, one of The Metals Company’s sponsors, plus a member of the ISA’s council, the Pacific nation of Nauru, triggered that rule. This rule states that if a government expresses an interest in mining in international waters, the ISA has 24 months to create a regulatory framework for that activity. Thanks to a rule written into the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), a set of regulations for deep-sea mining may be forced into place before the science is clear. Meanwhile, several companies, including Google, Volvo, and Samsung, have signed a pledge never to use materials extracted from the deep sea, in an effort to dissuade mining companies from extracting them. They are joined by the United Nations Environment Program, the World Bank, and nearly 800 scientists. (Brazil, for its part, just called for a ten-year moratorium on deep-sea mining.) But several other countries-including France, Germany, Spain, New Zealand, and Costa Rica-want a moratorium on deep-sea mining until its impacts are better understood. Some council members-including Russia, China, South Korea, India, Britain, Poland, and Brazil-have applied and been approved for contracts to explore deep-sea mining the ISA does not yet have authority to issue contracts to exploit the resources. Gerard Barron, chairman and CEO of The Metals Company, hopes that his company will be able to mine the seafloor for nickel, cobalt, and manganese in the Pacific Ocean. While the ISA’s role was to protect developing nations, The Metals Company, which anticipates garnering $85 billion from the area, plans to pay only 10 percent to the developing countries sponsoring it. This prompted some agency employees to quit in protest. A 2022 New York Times investigation included documents showing that since 2007, the ISA has been sharing key information with a Canadian mining company, now known as The Metals Company it also set aside the most promising tracts for that company, including the mineral-rich Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ) in the Pacific. Some have accused Michael Lodge, the secretary general in charge of the ISA, of being overzealous when it comes to mining. It’s further charged with guarding the rights of developing nations, so that if resources are extracted, wealthy nations do not unfairly benefit from what is considered a common human heritage. The ISA is also in charge of issuing contracts to extract resources from international waters, and creating regulations for such extraction, which many conservationists liken to putting the fox in charge of the henhouse. Created in 1994, the ISA is charged with protecting the marine environment in international waters “for all mankind.” It governs about 54 percent of the ocean-the ocean that is essential to planetary health, because it generates 50 percent of the oxygen we use, absorbs 25 percent of carbon dioxide emissions, and captures 90 percent of excess heat humans create. The Kingston, Jamaica-based International Seabed Authority (ISA), an autonomous organization under the auspices of the United Nations, is in charge of that decision. Gerard Barron, chairman and CEO of The Metals Company, holds a nodule brought up from the seafloor, which he plans for his company to mine in the Clarion Clipperton Zone of the Pacific Ocean, June 2021.
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