The Metals Company: 'It's just the regulatory hurdles' holding back deep sea mining

Cook Islands nodule field - photo taken within Cook Islands EEZ. Photo: Cook Islands Seabed Minerals Authority

A deep-sea mining company leading the global push to mine the seafloor in international waters could start as early as 2026 according to its chief executive, despite ongoing work to develop regulations.

Deep sea mining involves extracting potato size rocks called nodules - which are packed full of valuable metals - from the seafloor many kilometres deep.

Most environmental charities and a growing number of countries oppose deep sea mining but the companies and nations keen to see it happen think it is needed if the world is to move away from fossil fuels.

On the fringes of the Pacific Islands Forum Leaders meeting in Tonga this week, The Metals Company chief executive Gerard Barron reiterated his eagerness to start mining soon in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone, located in the High Seas between Hawai'i and Mexico.

He said the company would lodge an application with the International Seabed Authority (ISA) in the next few months.

"Once the regulator receives that and assesses it we hope that we'll have a permit to move from the exploration phase to the exploitation phase 12 months later, we already have our first production vessel that's been having some amendments made to it to be production ready," he said.

"We already know where we're going to process the nodules, so it's really just the regulatory hurdles that stand in front of us now."

There are currently no rules set out to regulate mining in the High Seas.

International Seabed Authority flag Photo: flickr / ISBA HQ

But the company may be able to get around this stumbling block thanks to Nauru, who a gave a two-year notice of its intention to start mining to the UN regulatory body.

This exploits a legal loophole that forces the ISA to consider the operational plans of any company sponsored by Nauru - even if regulations have not been developed.

Meanwhile, the number of nations calling for a precautionary pause or a moratorium on deep sea mining is growing, which Barron believes are misguided.

"They're operating on a set of facts that have been fed to them by a select group, mainly NGOs, and what I say to them is, 'let's be driven by the science and why don't you see the scientific programs that we're operating and the results that are coming off the back of them'."

He said it was inevitable that deep sea mining would happen and the best place for it to start is in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone.

"If there was anywhere to begin this activity the abyssal plane more than 1000 miles away from any living human or in the deep ocean where the amount of life is measured in grams per square meter that would be the right place to start this activity."

The Deep Sea Mining Campaign warns that if nodule mining is allowed to take place in the Pacific Ocean, species such as the Sperm Whale could be adversely affected. Photo: WILLYAM

'Look at the science comprehensively'

An ocean campaigner for the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition, Phil McCabe disagrees with Barron's interpretation of what the science is saying.

He said it supports the calls for a moratorium on the industry.

"I agree with him we do need to listen to the science rather than make things up and we need to look at the science comprehensively, listen to the 800 plus scientists and ocean policy experts that are saying that seabed mining, deep sea mining, should not commence until significant knowledge gaps are filled."

He said Barron saying he will soon apply for a license is because the company is running out of money and the stock price is less than a dollar.

"I think Gerard Barron is keeping his shareholders on the hook and keeping the market on the hook with expectation that they'll submit an application, because he's been pushing that timeline out for the last three or four years, by six months at a time, more or less."

Pacific countries and territories are divided on the issue, with the likes of Nauru, Cook Islands and Tonga all showing at least some interest.

Other Pacific nations are against, like Tuvalu, which joined the precautionary pause list last month alongside four other nations.

"There's 32 countries now explicitly calling for a moratorium or precautionary pause in international waters and then on top of that there's numerous territories, American Samoa, Hawaii, just recently," McCabe said.