Transparency and trust in the Deep-sea Mining Industry

Maria Bolevich for DSM Observer Transparency builds trust, but deep-sea mining contractors are faced with the challenge of balancing a mandate for transparency under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea with the need to maintain propriety over the privileged information needed to compete in an emerging industry. This balancing act creates an […]

Read More

Deep-sea Mining State of Technology, 2022

Andrew Thaler for the Deep-sea Mining Observer While the development of a deep-sea mining code may have slowed to a crawl over the last two years, the mining contractors have been hard at work pushing the limits of marine robotics. Deep-sea mining contractors cleared several key technical milestones in the race to commercialize the deep […]

Read More

A pivotal moment in the history of deep-sea mining

Andrew Thaler for the Deep-sea Mining Observer The spring and summer of 2021 will likely stand as the pivotal moment in the history of deep-sea mining. Months of intense protest amidst significant at-sea progress on environmental impact studies and prototype testing were capped off earlier this week by the explosive announcement that the Republic of […]

Read More
© Marten van Dijl / Greenpeace

Major Brands Say No to Deep-sea Mining, for the Moment

Andrew Thaler for the DSM Observer On Wednesday, March 30, several major technology and automotive companies joined the deep-sea mining moratorium movement. Google, BMW, Volvo, and Samsung SDI (a Samsung subsidiary responsible for manufacturing small lithium-ion batteries for smartphones and other applications) signed on to the World Wide Fund For Nature’s Global Deep-sea Mining Moratorium […]

Read More

The ISA’s Biggest Issue of 2018

As we move into the International Seabed Authority’s (ISA) 24th annual meeting (part 1), DSM Observer caught up with some of the seabed mining community’s key actors to ask them a single question, “What is the biggest single issue facing the ISA this year?” The respondents, representing a range of stakeholder groups, include an ISA […]

Read More
ISA Releases Stakeholder Submissions to Draft Exploitation Regulations

ISA Releases Stakeholder Submissions to Draft Exploitation Regulations

INTERNATIONAL SEABED AUTHORITY | 11 January 2018 JAMAICA, Kingston – – The Secretariat of the International Seabed Authority has released the submissions from member States and other stakeholders to the “Draft regulations on exploitation of mineral resources in the Area” (ISBA/23/LTC/CRP.3*) issued by the Secretariat on 25 August 2017, including responses to the list of […]

Read More
Training Opportunities

New Training Opportunities Announced

The International Seabed Authority (ISA) has announced new opportunities for 2018 in three different Contractor Training Programs.  The total of fifteen new openings are designed for trainees from developing States and include opportunities for scholarships, seminar support, internships and at-sea training. The new opportunities are supported through the training programs of Global Sea Mineral Resources […]

Read More
Paul Lynch

Deep Sea Mining from a Pacific Island State Perspective: An Interview with Cook Islands Seabed Minerals Commissioner Paul Lynch

Since August 2012, Paul Lynch has led the Cook Islands’ Seabed Minerals Authority, which oversees development of the islands’ national seabed mineral resource. A lawyer with over 25 years of wide and varied legal experience in the private sector, Commissioner Lynch is shaping deep sea mining as an industry, both in the Cook Islands and […]

Read More