The deepest parts of the Pacific Ocean have rested undisturbed for millennia. But now creatures living thousands of metres beneath the surface may be confronted by new visitors: companies mining minerals key to the green energy transition.
The International Seabed Authority (ISA), the UN-backed regulator, is preparing to consider the world’s first commercial deep-sea mining application as soon as July, despite many member states warning it is too soon for extraction to leap from land into water.
Two years ago, Nauru activated the countdown for a potential start to commercial deep-sea mining, a practice hotly debated since the 1960s. The tiny Pacific island triggered a legal clause compelling the ISA to consider applications for commercial mining permits under the skeleton framework designed for exploration, if it cannot agree on a full set of safeguards for the industry before this summer.