Andrew Thaler for the Deep-sea Mining Observer Tasked with determining if and how the resources of the deep seafloor in areas beyond national borders would be extracted for their metals and parceled out to meet the profit needs of mining contractors and fulfill the International Seabed Authority’s mandate to manage the seafloor for the good […]
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Opinion by Andrew Thaler, DSMO Editor-in-Chief The Earth Negotiations Bulletin was not present at the first part of the 27th Session of the International Seabed Authority. When the ISA Secretariat announced at the February 2020 meeting that they would not be renewing the ENB contract, I did not expect that their absence would be quite […]
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Opinion/Editorial by Alberto Pecoraro Alberto Pecoraro is a PhD Fellow at the Law & Development Research Group of the University of Antwerp (Belgium). His research concerns the international legal protection of deep seabed mining investments. Tuvalu’s recent decision to cancel its sponsorship of Circular Metals Tuvalu Ltd. may entail far-reaching international legal consequences. On the […]
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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 […]
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Pradeep A. Singh for the Deep-sea Mining Observer [1] In late June 2021, some three months ago now, the Republic of Nauru invoked section 1(15) of the 1994 Agreement Relating to the Implementation of Part XI of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (hereinafter ‘section 1(15)’), which houses the ‘two-year rule’ or […]
Read More Opinion by Andrew Thaler, DSMO Editor-in-Chief The International Seabed Authority published their provisional roadmap for the next two years of international negotiations, optimistically culminating with the approval of the Mining Code for polymetallic nodules in areas beyond national jurisdiction. This ambitious goal depends upon the ability to resume ISA sessions in Kingston, a scenario that […]
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Andrew Thaler for Deep-sea Mining Observer This month, the International Union for Conservation of Nature called on all state members to implement a deep-sea mining moratorium, including a moratorium on issuing new exploration contracts and adopting a mining code, until appropriate impact assessments have been completed. Those impact assessments include social, cultural, and economic risks, […]
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Andrew Thaler for the Deep-sea Mining Observer This month, The Metals Company completed its reverse merger with Sustainable Opportunities Acquisition Corp and was formally listed as $TMC on Nasdaq. On September 17, Chairman and CEO of The Metals Company Gerard Barron, rang the opening bell at the Nasdaq MarketSite in Times Square. In a press […]
Read More Opinion by Andrew Thaler, DSMO Editor-in-Chief As we enter the final quarter of 2021, with a global pandemic still raging across all but a few countries and impacting supply chains and critical work throughout the world, it looks increasingly unlikely that an in-person session of the ISA will be possible before 2022, marking two years […]
Read More Andrew Thaler for the Deep-sea Mining Observer. The Republic of Nauru turned the deep-sea mining world on its head this summer when it invoked Article 15, colloquially known as the Trigger, starting a 2-year countdown on the finalization of mining regulations for polymetallic nodules in areas beyond national jurisdiction. This countdown means that commercial deep-sea […]
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