While companies are willing to extract rare metals from the seafloor for battery production, the United Nations is still debating whether this is allowed. Environmentalists and scientists warn that little is known about its impact on marine life.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) expects demand for metals such as nickel and cobalt to increase by 70 percent in the coming years. This is partly due to the rise in electric cars.
Europe is heavily dependent on China and mining in Africa for battery production involving child labor. The opening of new mines in resource-rich countries such as Portugal and Sweden is met with resistance from the local population.
Tens of billions of manganese lumps filled with cobalt and nickel will be mined in the Clarion-Clipperton Region, a major fracture zone at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean midway between Mexico and Hawaii. Dutch companies such as Allseas and IHC are involved in the development of technology to extract metals.
“This is enough to produce 140 million electric cars,” says Rutger Bosland, Allseas project manager. An area half the size of Europe. I’m waiting for the regulation to start.
As these are international waters, legislation has been prepared by the United Nations International Seabed Authority (ISA). To this end, several countries are currently meeting in Jamaica. This consultation should eventually lead to the so-called mining code. This determines who is allowed to dig where and under what conditions on the seabed.
The ISA is in a hurry because the so-called “two-year rule” of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea comes into play. This means that the response to the application must be received by June at the latest. A temporary license must be issued unless it is a mining code. The Canadian mining company applying for the application is working with Allseas, which provides technology to extract metals at great depths.
At the end of last year, companies were able to take manganese nodules from the bottom and bring them 4.5 kilometers above their ships.
Watch a video of the first successful recovery of rare metals from the bottom of the Pacific Ocean here:
The manganese nodules that mining companies want to extract are millions of years old. They are formed by volcanic processes. The Clarion-Clipperton Region is located on two fault lines in the Pacific Ocean. Scientists and environmentalists fear that large-scale mining within a 5,000-kilometer radius could cause massive damage to marine life.
Plants and animals on and around manganese nodules can be lost due to the resulting dust clouds. Also, little is known about the importance of deep-sea life to the ocean ecosystem. That’s why scientists call for more research before metals are extracted from the seafloor.
Scientists from different European countries have been conducting research in this field for two years. Sabine Gollner and Henko de Stigter of the Royal Netherlands Naval Research Institute (NIOZ) are part of the Miningimpact research team.
See how scientists from their ships use cameras on robots and underwater vehicles to study seabed life and the effects of deep-sea mines:
ISA talks on deep sea mine rules in Jamaica will continue through the end of this week. It will likely take until summer for clarity to emerge. Allseas aims to begin industrial metal extraction from the bottom of the Pacific Ocean by 2025.
Source: NOS
Roy Brown is a renowned economist and author at The Nation View. He has a deep understanding of the global economy and its intricacies. He writes about a wide range of economic topics, including monetary policy, fiscal policy, international trade, and labor markets.
