In the late 1980s, as the first wave of deep-sea mining exploration approached a decade of hibernation, researchers launched an ambitious experiment to understand the long-term environmental impact of harvesting polymetallic nodules from the abyssal plain. The Disturbance and recolonization experiment in a manganese nodule area of the deep South Pacific (DISCOL) remains the most […]
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Maria Bolevich for DSM Observer The coronavirus pandemic is changing the world in dramatic and subtle ways, exacting a toll measured both in lost lives and economic uncertainty. Deep-sea mining has been in development for over 50 years and now, at the moment in which negotiations were poised to transition the industry from exploration to […]
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Matthew R. Francis for DSM Observer Nothing is less “deep sea” than an asteroid, yet parallels exist between these two domains, particularly when it comes to resource extraction. Asteroids are debris left over from the formation of the Solar System roughly 4.5 billion years ago. Due to our shared origin, Earth and asteroids contain the […]
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Last week DeepGreen announced that it had finalized the acquisition of Tonga Offshore Mining Limited, a subsidiary of the former Nautilus Minerals, from Deep Sea Mining Finance, who is overseeing Nautilus’s restructuring. Outside of Solwara I, TOML was one of Nautilus’s most valuable holdings, and though the acquisition price has not been revealed, it will […]
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African nations make up over a quarter of all member states that have ratified the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. The African Regional Working group consistently takes a leadership role in International Seabed Authority negotiations and they are among the leading voices pushing for a fair and equitable financial model. Yet for […]
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In the early days of exploration, the deep-sea was thought to be largely devoid of life, a vast empty plain of mud wrapped around the world, too deep for living organisms to survive. But the more humans explore, the more life we discover in increasingly unexpected places, from the boiling water of hydrothermal vents, to […]
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Sergio Cambronero There were high expectations at the first part of the 26thCouncil Session of the International Seabed Authority (ISA). 2020 was thought by many to herald the approval of the Exploitation Regulations. However, the drafting process is ongoing, entrenched in debate on key elements, which in turn has led to uncertainty around the approaching […]
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The 26th Session of the International Seabed Authority convened this February to continue the long and complex negotiations over the draft Mining Code and work towards consensus among the various stakeholders. 2020 was set as the target year to get the Mining Code finalized, but many delegates left Jamaica feeling frustrated with the pace of […]
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As large swaths of the world’s population go into quarantine, self-imposed or mandatory, and international meetings and negotiations grind to a halt in the short term, many deep-sea mining stakeholders are finding themselves with an abundance of free time. Or, even worse, an abundance of free time and a phalanx of bored kids. At the […]
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When the first part of 26th Session of the International Seabed Authority convened last month, there was a new stakeholder impacting the pace of deliberations. COVID-19 had just begun to spread beyond China and nations across the world were limiting travel in the hopes of containing the outbreak. With Jamaica imposing a 14-day quarantine on […]
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