Climate Home News identified at least 33 executives and employees of companies directly involved in the nascent deep-sea mining industry on the list of state delegations at the International Seabed Authority (ISA) annual meeting.

The little-known UN agency is tasked with setting the rules for the extraction of minerals found on the vast ocean floor in international waters. No such activity is currently taking place at commercial level yet.

But this year’s summit came at a pivotal moment, as any member state could now theoretically apply for a mining contract on behalf of a company. That is after a deadline to establish mining rules triggered by the island-nation of Nauru lapsed earlier in July.

The meeting pitted a handful of countries pushing for the ISA to introduce regulations and issue permits against a growing coalition calling for a halt to operations until the full environmental impacts are known.

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Mining companies claim that minerals like nickel and cobalt extracted from polymetallic nodules lying on the seabed are needed in batteries and will help speed up the energy transition. An area of the Pacific Ocean floor known as the Clarion Clipperton Zone, which is under the control of the ISA, contains a high concentration of the golf ball-sized nodules.

A deep-sea creature moving over polymetallic nodules in the Clarion Clipperton Zone. Photo: ROV Team/GEOMAR

Environmental campaigners and several governments dispute the industry’s claims, saying that more mining isn’t necessary and deep sea operations will damage ecosystems we still know little about. More than 750 marine scientists signed an open letter calling for a ban on the practice until robust scientific evidence can back it up.

Unfettered access

Countries bring delegations to the meeting mostly made up of government officials, but also including scientists, corporate lobbyists and, to a lesser extent, NGO representatives.

Unlike non-governmental agencies that can apply for observer status, private companies do not have an official way to participate at the ISA talks. But industry representatives routinely attend the meetings, usually by embedding in the delegations of the countries sponsoring their mining licenses.

A lead negotiator told Climate Home News that the number of industry representatives at the talks last July was similar to that seen in previous years but, for the first time, they took part in the small-room negotiations.

“Each country has the right to include in its delegation whoever it chooses,” they added. “But it is very telling when a delegation brings a contractor into the close negotiations limited to member states. It shows who is influencing its decisions.”

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Bobbi-Jo Dubosh from The Ocean Foundation said that the access given to mining industry representatives should be contrasted with restrictions being imposed on civil society and media.

“Miners may attend the ISA as part of state delegations, which allows them into every room, no matter how small,” she added. “In contrast, civil society sits outside of closed-door meetings, and – depending on the week – media aren’t even allowed on premises at the ISA”.

An ISA spokesperson said it is not for the agency’s secretariat to comment on the composition of individual country delegations.

Nauru, China, Japan, Jamaica, Belgium, the UK, Netherlands, the Cook Islands and Singapore all brought mining executives and consultants to the talks in Kingston, Jamaica, last month, according to an analysis by Climate Home News.

All these countries except the Netherlands directly sponsor companies that are looking into ways to collect precious metals from the ocean floor.

The Metals Company contingent

Among the most high-profile industry players in Kingston was Gerard Barron, the outspoken CEO of The Metals Company (TMC), a Canadian deep-sea mining startup that is at the forefront of efforts to mine the ocean.

Barron joined the talks as a representative of Nauru, the Pacific island nation sponsoring one of his company’s licenses. Nauru heaped pressure on the ISA in 2021 when it triggered an obscure mechanism that gave the UN agency two years to write up regulations for mining.

The move fuelled TMC’s hopes for an accelerated start to commercial mining. But as the deadline passed, ISA members decided to delay the adoption of regulations until 2025 – to the disappointment of Barron and Nauru’s government officials.

Gerard Barron (left) with other members of the Nauru delegation at the ISA meetings last July. Photo: IISD/ENB – Diego Noguera

Barron is no stranger to ISA talks. In 2019 he sparked controversy when he addressed other negotiators from the seat of the Nauruan delegation during a plenary session, urging regulations to be completed.

Another TMC executive and two veteran mining consultants joined Barron on the list of Nauru representatives this year.

Nathan Eastwood is an Australia-based mining industry lawyer who recently left a job at the ISA. As the New York Times revealed, in 2021 he took a sabbatical from his law firm to work as a legal officer for the UN agency and help it draft the mining regulations. Eastwood is now an advisor to TMC’s Nauruan subsidiary.

He followed in the footsteps of another Nauru representative, Chris Brown. Before becoming an advisor to Nauru, Brown had spent several years helping the ISA set its mining rules as an employee and consultant at the UN body.

An ISA spokesperson said the agency follows the most rigorous standards of good governance. “The specificity of the work required by the development of the Mining Code calls for high levels of expertise in certain subject areas, such as mining law and the law of the sea, which is rare,” they said, adding that consultants are bound by “very specific and strict contractual terms” designed to avoid any conflict of interest.

Agenda fight

During the week-long gathering of the ISA assembly members, Nauru opposed a motion proposed by a group of countries led by Chile, Costa Rica and France to officially discuss a moratorium for the first time. The standoff prevented the approval of an agenda of the talks until the last day when the two sides reached a compromise. A discussion on a halt to deep sea mining will be put on the provisional agenda next year.

In blocking the motion, the island nation was flanked initially by Mexico, but most persistently by China.

Chinese and Chilean negotiators looking for a compromise on the final day of the ISA talks. Photo: IISD/ENB – Diego Noguera

Unlike most other countries, China did not spell out on the participants’ list the affiliation of its delegation members. But Climate Home News has identified at least two representatives of Chinese state-owned companies that are currently exploring the ocean seabed for metal extraction.

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China is in favour of deep-sea mining and is doubling down on efforts to be at the forefront of the nascent sector. At this year’s meeting, China opposed the inclusion of a moratorium debate on the agenda most vehemently, arguing it was “not suitable” for discussion. Its lead negotiator also said the ISA should be actively pushing ahead with its work to finalise mining rules.

Japan arrived in Kingston with the largest group of industry advisers among its ranks. Seven representatives for each of the country’s two state-backed deep-sea mining players joined the delegation. Japan wants to extract cobalt and other metals needed for the production of electric vehicles from the Pacific Ocean seabed in a bid to reduce its reliance on China for the minerals.

Japan was hoping the ISA regulations would be in place by this July, but it also reiterated its commitment “to protecting the marine environment and biodiversity”.

European miners represented

The host country for the talks, Jamaica, also included a number of deep-sea mining executives in its large delegation. These included Romeo Spinelli and Peter Jantzen, directors of Blue Minerals Jamaica, which in December 2020 became the latest company to obtain an exploration licence from the ISA. Before launching the Jamaican ventures, Spinelli and Jantzen had worked for various oil and gas companies.

According to research by the Environmental Justice Foundation, Blue Minerals is a subsidiary of Allseas, a Swiss group specialized in laying underwater oil and gas pipelines. Allseas is very active in deep-sea mining, also as an investor and operating partner of The Metals Company. The Swiss firm is developing a system to collect the polymetallic nodules from the seabed and transport them onto a vessel. An Allseas engineer was part of the Jamaican delegation at the talks, alongside the Blue Minerals representatives.

Two of Allseas’ European rivals also sent representatives to Kingston joining the delegations of Belgium and the Netherlands respectively.

Among the advisors to the Belgian team was Kris Van Nijen, managing director of Global Sea Mineral Resources (GSR), which holds an ISA permit and has been testing a series of technologies, including underwater robots, to extract minerals from the ocean floor.

Delegates meet on the first day of the annual Assembly meeting of the International Seabed Authority (ISA). Photo: IISD/ENB – Diego Noguera

Even though it did not join the call for a moratorium directly, Belgium showed support for a discussion of the proposal at ISA meetings. It also said there should be no seabed mining without agreeing on a set of rules that ensure high environmental standards and sound scientific knowledge.

The Dutch delegation included two employees of Royal IHC, a Dutch firm developing systems to harvest metals from the deep-sea sustainably as part of a programme subsidised by the European Union.

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The United Kingdom signed up as advisors to its negotiating team two representatives of UK Seabed Resources, a deep-sea mining company sponsored by the British government. The company was acquired last March by Norway’s Loke Marine Minerals from the US weapons manufacturer Lockheed Martin. The Norwegian company, which is backed by oil and gas investors, hopes to start mining activities in 2030.

Louisa Casson from Greenpeace said the ISA has long been “a fortress for industry interests, with the private companies based in the Global North lobbying hard for deals that would maximise their profit”.

But she added many more people are now voicing their concerns about deep sea mining and negotiations “need to catch up” with the outside world.

The article was amended on 11/08/23 to include comments from the ISA received after publication

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It’s the first time this proposal will be formally discussed at a UN international body.

For the past three weeks, governments gathered in Kingston, Jamaica, at a little-known UN agency called the International Seabed Authority (ISA), to discuss a moratorium on mining on the deep seabed in international waters. No companies are currently carrying out such projects yet.

A coalition of nations pushed for a ban to be placed on the agenda but were opposed by Mexico, Nauru and most persistently by China. Towards the end of the meeting though, they won a concession agreeing that it be put provisonally on the agenda next year.

Greenpeace campaigner Louisa Casson was at the talks and said this was “incredibly exciting” and that deep-sea mining has now become”less likely” while Costa Rica’s negotiator Gina Guillen-Grillo tweeted that there will be a discussion on a temporary ban next year.

Proud of the results of hard work led by likeminded countries with the support of many others,this week at the ISA.
We achieved that next ISA Assembly will have stand alone discussion of General Policy for the application of Precautionary Principle @CRcancilleria pic.twitter.com/YMwA427BSy

— Gina Guillen-Grillo (@GinaGGCR) July 29, 2023

But other environmentalists were less upbeat. Bobbi-Jo Dobush from The Ocean Foundation told Mongabay that China’s blocking of talks on a ban “squandered hours of much needed discussion time” and deep sea scientist Patricia Esquete said the blocking of talks was “very concerning”.

The mining companies claim that minerals like nickel and cobalt are needed in batteries and will help speed up the energy transition but environmental campaigners like Casson dispute this, saying that more mining isn’t necessary and deepsea mining will damage ecosystems we still know little about.

Agenda fight

In Kingston, a coalition of over a dozen countries spearheaded by Chile, France and Costa Rica tried to officially debate for the first time in history the possibility to ban deep-sea mining until its full impact on the ocean’s biodiversity is understood.

Hervè Berville, the French Minister for Marine Affairs, told the Assembly on Wednesday that the world “must not and cannot embark on a new industrial activity without measuring the consequences and taking the risk of irreversible damage”.

The French minister for Marine Affairs speaking at the ISA Assembly. Photo: IISD/ENB | Diego Noguera

But China, Mexico and the Pacific island of Nauru opposed a halt. While Mexico and Nauru relented, China continued to oppose even putting a moratorium on the official agenda saying it was “not suitable” for discussion.

Gina Guillén, head of the Costa Rican delegation said “just one country is opposing [the agenda item on the discussion]. We hope it does happen. One country can’t hijack the most important body of the [ISA] just for being a big economy. That goes against all principles of multilateralism.”

In a bad-tempered last day of talks, China’s negotiator Wenting Zhao defended herself, saying that if the agenda isn’t agreed “everyone will know who is responsible for this”.

France’s negotiator hit back, saying that those “who blame others are the responsible for this situation” and “if there is a responsibility, it is not ours, we have made concessions”.

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Eventually, governments agreed a compromise. They would not discuss a ban at this meeting but would put a discussion on the provisional agenda next year. This year it was only proposed for the supplementary agenda.

Casson said the discussion “would still need to be adopted by governments so [there] may well be pushback” but she said that moving it from the supplementary agenda to the provisional shows “substantive arguments against it have conceded”.

“This compromise does in effect accept that the ISA Assembly does have the authority to debate the development of a general policy of the ISA, including the possibility of a establishing moratorium on deep-sea mining. So arguably a small step forward but only the beginning of the debate in the Assembly,” Casson explained.

Time pressure

On the other side to Casson is Gerrard Barron, the outspoken CEO of the leading deep sea mining hopeful The Metals Company (TMC). In a statement targetted at investors in his troubled company, he celebrated the ISA’s decision to keep drawing up rules for deep-sea mining.

“It is now a question of when — rather than if — commercial-scale nodule collection will begin”, he said.

The ISA had been pressured into this by the government of Nauru, which is sponsoring TMC. In July 2011, the government of the tiny Pacific nation triggered a mechanism which gave the ISA two years to write up regulations for mining.

That deadline passed this July. Barron said he was “obviously disappointed” that they didn’t finish writing the rules on time but said he believes “the finishing line is within sight”.

But Barron’s investors were less impressed, as TMC’s share price nearly halved between the start of the meeting and its end.

Casson said that the meeting had showed how politically controversial deep sea mining had become and that, as it needs to be signed off by governments at the ISA, it was unlikely to start soon.

Critical minerals

The International Energy Agency has warned that there are likely to be shortages in minerals like lithium, cobalt and nickel which will hold back the energy transition.

But, with more investment in mining on land, the IEA’s fears are easing and Casson said that companies like Tesla are cuttinb back on the amount of these minerals they use.

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Casson said that these minerals and batteries should be recylcled “rather than looking to repeat the problems of mining on land in the ocean”.

The ISA’s power only covers parts of the sea which are more than 200 miles from the coast and more than 200 metres deep.

Mining on the seabed closer to the coast is allowed under international rules but no government has started doing it yet.

The Norwegian government has proposed mining its northern waters and will put their proposals to parliament this autumn.

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The stalemate is dragging on as attempts to formally discuss a precautionary suspension of mining activities have been thwarted by nations in favour of exploiting the ocean’s mineral resources.

Over a dozen countries spearheaded by Chile, Costa Rica and France want to officially debate for the first time in history the possibility to halt deep-sea mining until its full impact on the ocean’s biodiversity is understood.

Hervè Berville, the French Minister for Marine Affairs, told the Assembly on Wednesday that the world “must not and cannot embark on a new industrial activity without measuring the consequences and taking the risk of irreversible damage”.

For the past decade, the mining industry has proposed to extract minerals from the deep seabed that can later be used to make batteries for electric vehicles.

However, the potential impacts of mining the ocean floor are largely unknown, putting biodiversity at risk. More than 750 marine scientists signed an open letter calling for a ban on the practice until robust scientific evidence can back it up.

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Mining industry pushback

China and the island-state of Nauru have so far blocked the motion for a moratorium discussion, preventing agreement over the agenda. Both countries sponsor companies pushing for the exploitation of seabed minerals. Mexico also initially opposed but then retracted.

Gina Guillén, head of the Costa Rican delegation and one of the leaders of the coalition calling for a pause on mining, said one sole country was fiercely blocking the agenda item, even after offering a lighter discussion than expected.

“Just one country is opposing (the agenda item on the discussion). We hope it does happen. One country can’t hijack the most important body of the (ISA) just for being a big economy. That goes against all principles of multilateralism,” Guillén said.

‘We are not ready’: Divisions deepen over rush to finalise deep sea mining rules

Calls for a so-called moratorium have been gathering pace during the annual meeting of the ISA, the little-known UN body tasked with regulating the vast ocean floor in international waters.

This year’s week-long summit, set to end on Friday, comes at a pivotal time. Any member state could theoretically apply for a full-blown mining contract on behalf of a company, after a deadline triggered by Nauru lapsed earlier in July.

So far the ISA has only handed out ‘exploration’ permits which do not allow commercial exploitation of the minerals.

Mining code delayed

But several operators have already been exploring an area of the Pacific Ocean floor known as the Clarion Clipperton Zone. The region is rich in polymetallic nodules containing nickel, cobalt, copper and manganese, which are critical for manufacturing electric vehicles.

Among the most active is Canada-based start-up The Metals Company, whose license is sponsored by Nauru. After the island nation triggered an obscure provision two years ago, the ISA accelerated the pace of its negotiations to establish mining rules before a July 9th, 2023.

The Metals Company, and its partner Nauru, hoped to begin industrial-scale mining as early as 2024, following the expected approval of a mining code.

But their ambitions were cut back last week after the ISA delayed timeline for the regulations. The 36 members of the body’s council gave until 2025 to adopt the mining code.

It is now a question of when — rather than if — commercial scale nodule collection will begin. https://t.co/oWI8AOZPBR

— gerard barron (@gtbgtb) July 24, 2023

Blow to industry

Nauru’s president Russ Joseph Kun expressed disappointment on Wednesday that the ISA did not complete the process within the two-year deadline.

Member states in fact could still apply for a mining licence despite the rules not being in place. This would push the body into uncharted territory without clear guidelines on how such a request would be examined.

The Metals Company said it reserves the right to submit an application in the absence of a mining code. “It is now a question of when — rather than if — commercial-scale nodule collection will begin”, its CEO Gerard Barron said in a statement.

But the listed company’s stock tumbled by over 20% this week, hinting at investors’ diminishing confidence in its mining prospects.

Guillén from Costa Rica said approving the new 2025 deadline was “critical”. “They wanted a 2024 deadline, but we said no way,” she said.

Moratorium discussion

Campaigners opposed to deep-sea mining viewed the new 2025 deadline for the mining code with optimism but repeated their pleas for a moratorium, which would block any attempt to start commercial operations.

“This unprecedented agenda fight comes as a coalition of nations from Latin America, the Pacific and Europe try and wrangle the debate away from serving narrow corporate interests towards the public good”, said Louisa Casson from Greenpeace, who is attending the talks in Jamaica.

If the agenda is approved, it would mark the first time countries hold a formal discussion on suspending deep sea mining, although this discussion would not necessarily lead to a moratorium.

Still, Gillén said this is an important precedent, and said “we cannot destroy the seabed by taking a rushed decision”.

Last year, countries agreed to a treaty for the high seas, which creates international marine protected areas. However, this milestone could be undermined if deep sea talks end up with a bad deal, the Costa Rican negotiator added.

“Even after having agreed to the (high seas) treaty, if we don’t have strong safeguards for the seabed in those same areas, then we won’t have achieved anything,” Guillén said.

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