Industrial deep-seabed mining in international waters could begin as soon as July 2023. If permitted, deep-sea mining could irreversibly impact the oceans’ role in climate stability, biodiversity and economies.

The History

Project Azorian was the Central Intelligence Agency’s mission to recover a sunken Russian nuclear submarine in the Pacific with the cover story of researching for minerals in the deep sea. The CIA states, “While the public believed the Hughes Glomar Explorer to be a vessel for deep sea mining, CIA was really using the ship to search for a sunken Soviet submarine.” This was the very myth that set the world off on a gold rush to the deep sea. Dr. Sylvia Earle herself provides living testimony about the cover up as she went on board the Glomar Explorer funded by US billionaire Howard Hughes.

What is Deep-Sea Mining?

The ocean is largely the reason we don’t have runaway climate change today. It’s sequestered atmospheric carbon and is absorbing the majority of the planet’s rising heat, and as a result, we’re already seeing symptoms of the ocean’s health decline: increased acidification, ocean deoxygenation and mass biodiversity loss. Despite international scientists, governments and civil society sounding the alarm, there’s a new destructive industry on the horizon, deep seabed mining. Deep-sea mining is the process of extracting mineral deposits from the deep sea – the area of the ocean below 200m. The deep sea is the biggest biome on the planet, making up 90% of the marine environment. It is believed to have one of the highest levels of biodiversity on Earth and provides critical environmental services, including long-term carbon sequestration. Over 99% of the seabed is unexplored and more is known about the moon and there are better maps of mars than the deep sea. The effects from deep-sea mining will likely be irreversible as these ancient ecosystems are extremely fragile and slow forming; a single polymetallic nodule takes an average 13 million years to form.

Why Is This Happening?

The independent science is clear; deep-sea mining is unnecessary and far too big of a risk. However, with mounting interest in the prospects of monetizing our global commons, there is pressure to rush and pass the Mining Code – the exploitation regulations that will allow deep seabed mining to take off on an industrial scale. The United Nations International Seabed Authority (ISA) is an autonomous governing body that has jurisdiction over 50% of the earth’s surface. The ISA has already awarded 31 exploration licenses, which, if allowed to begin, will be the largest mining operation in history, totaling 1.5 million square km, an area greater than two times the size of France.

A loophole rule was triggered by the Pacific Island of Nauru, a sponsoring state of the deep-sea mining company, The Metals Company, and will allow mining to begin as soon as July 2023 without environmental protections or regulations in place. This summer (June 28- July 28) ISA Member countries will decide if commercial extraction can begin in the world’s international waters.

The ISA has a dual mandate to both oversee and regulate mining practices in this area and also to protect this area from environmental harm. The ISA has an inherent conflict of interest as both the profiteer and the steward of the deep sea. The ISA’s Secretary-General, Michael Lodge said, “Once you have mining, you have monitoring, then you can develop standards, and you can progressively tighten those standards once you have a feedback loop from monitoring your activity.” Leadership in the ISA is prioritizing the launch of a new global industry and is looking for ways to circumvent rather than prioritize their mandate to create environmental standards.

A moratorium on deep sea mining is necessary to assess if the ISA is fit-for-purpose to ensure the protection of the “common heritage of humankind” and to ensure the ISA’s decision-making processes are inclusive, transparent, accountable, and adequately account for intergenerational equity.

“Once you have mining, you have monitoring, then you can develop standards, and you can progressively tighten those standards once you have a feedback loop from monitoring your activity.”

The Players

The Metals Company’s (TMC) formerly known as Nautilus, went bankrupt and left Papua New Guinea in over $120 Million in debt (which is 1/3rd of the country’s entire health budget) while original investors and now CEO Gerard Barron multiplied their investments. According to Greenpeace’s Deep Trouble Report, “Barron ‘turned a $226,000 investment into $31 million, and he successfully exited his position near the height of the market’. Former Nautilus CEO David Heydon set up DeepGreen in 2011 with seed funding from Gerard Barron, and was DeepGreen’s original CEO, with ISA documents naming him a NORI director. His son Robert was Vice President of NORI and COO of DeepGreen.” In September 2021, Deep Green’s SPAC merger with Sustainable Acquisitions Corporation, was reported as a disappointment as “investors withheld almost $500 Million in funding.” Some of their core investors include All Seas Group, Glencore, Maersk, Fearnley Securities and Macquarie Capital. As of April 20, 2023 TMC received a delisting notice from Nasdaq Capital Market.

Greenpeace’s Deep Trouble Report covers other companies influence; Belgian corporate Dredging, Environmental and Marine Engineering NV (DEME), US arms manufacturer Lockheed Martin, and Ocean Mineral Singapore (and its owner Keppel have links other contractors to both DEME and Lockheed Martin), work through networks of sub-contractors, partnerships and shell companies so their dominance is not immediately obvious or accountable. Despite calls for disclosure, details of the arrangements between the companies and the governments remain secret, making it difficult to ascertain what benefit, if any, the States will derive from the partnership in return for the risks taken.

What Are The Costs?

Deep sea mining will cause serious, irreparable harm to the communities directly mined and those over substantially larger areas. The plume’s far-reaching effects could cause substantial extinctions throughout the water column and threaten ecosystem services. Just one of the many concerning impacts laid out in Fauna & Flora International’s report, A Risk and Impact Assessment of Seabed Mining to Marine Ecosystems, categorizes “climate change implications as the oceans ability to cycle carbon is reduced” as a High Risk. The destructive extractive industry may lead to the potential loss of new medicines (a crucial COVID-19 test was developed from an enzyme isolated from a microbe that lives in deep-sea hydrothermal vents) and drive species to extinction before they have even been discovered. Scientists are also warning of the potential negative impacts deep-sea mining may have on fisheries, including tuna fisheries, as well as whales and other deep-diving oceanic species.

What Are The Alternatives?

Interest in mining the deep-seabed is under the guise of fuelling the green energy revolution. The deep sea is the largest carbon sink and underpins climate. Deep-sea mining will be an extension of already harmful mining practices. The good news is, we don’t need deep-sea mining.

According to WWF’s report, The Future is Circular, “the demand for critical minerals can be reduced by 58% from now to 2050 with new technology, circular economy models and recycling.” New Technology is reducing and replacing minerals and can reduce demand by 30%. Circular economy models and using minerals we already have can reduce demand by 18% and recycling can reduce demand by another 10% (currently, 80% of our electronic waste is being thrown away). Examples of these alternatives include:

• Lithium Iron Phosphate Battery – no cobalt, nickel & manganese (already in production with companies like Tesla and other EV producers, like BYD, Ford and Volkswagen, have committed to incorporating this technology)

• Redwood Materials, a metals recycling company, founded by JB Straubel co- founder of Tesla

• Hydrogen fuel cell advancement

• Enercap and MaterialsX – battery companies replacing minerals

Lithium, one of the most needed minerals for electric vehicle batteries, is not viable for deep-sea mining and alternatives for lithium mining are also being developed ie. a method to filter lithium from the watercolum.

Momentum is building to leave the industry behind. Major players in the industry are pulling funds; most recent, Lockheed Martin, the industry’s biggest corporate backer backed out. Financial institutions, like the World Bank, European Investment Bank and UNEP-FI, are warning that deep-sea mining is not financially viable. International companies are pledging they won’t use minerals from the deep sea, including BMW Group, Samsung, Google and more. Countries are calling for a halt to deep-sea mining, from France’s stance for a full ban to countries calling for a moratorium to stop deep sea mining.

What Can You Do?

1. Call on countries to say no to deep-sea mining.

2. Use your realm of influence to do what you can and spread the word.

3. Join the movement at The Oxygen Project, to take collective action, sign the open letter to the UN, ISA representatives and world leaders, calling for a moratorium on deep seabed mining, and learn more.

Companies: Join companies like Google, BMW, Samsung, Volvo, Phillips, Rivian and more, in the call for a moratorium

Scientists: Join the science statement signed by 704 marine science & policy experts from over 44 countries

Countries: Join The Alliance of Countries for a Deep-Sea Mining Moratorium, a Global Alliance of states calling for a moratorium on deep-sea mining. Contact: sian@savethehighseas.org. Website: www.savethehighseas.org