The metals are used in car batteries.

The International Seabed Authority (ISA), a United Nations body that administers vast mining-licence areas in international waters, announced the need for additional time to finalise mining regulations.

Originally slated for July, the delay was prompted by mounting pressure from environmentalists from countries opposing the seabed mining efforts and Greenpeace.

The Canadian-based mining startup, the Metals Company, is among the most impacted entities.

The company had teamed up with the small island nation of Nauru to pursue the first licence for large-scale seabed mining beginning in early 2024.

However, this timeline has now been derailed due to the delay imposed by the ISA.

The duration of the postponement remains uncertain, as opposing nations such as Costa Rica, Chile and France alongside other seabed mining opponents, seek to halt the mining altogether.

Conversely, supporters of seabed mining aim to expedite the process and have it underway by approximately 2025.

More research needed

Costa Rica's representative to the ISA, Gina Guillén Grillo, a prominent figure leading the opposition to seabed mining, emphasised the need for more scientific research before proceeding with such endeavours. She warned against initiating the process prematurely to avert potential disasters.

"We are on the side of the ocean. We know there is not enough science. To start right now would be a disaster," said Grillo.

Gerard Barron, CEO of the Metals Company, expressed optimism that his company, in partnership with Nauru, will ultimately secure the required approvals to proceed with the mining effort in the coming years.

The company will continue lobbying other nations to demonstrate the environmental advantages of ocean floor mining over conventional surface mining.

While the ISA works to establish environmental standards and a royalty rate for mining contractors, the Metals Company aims to convince other nations of the potential benefits of seabed mining.

The ISA has issued 31 contracts for exploratory work in various ocean regions, allowing nations and contractors to gather data on environmental impacts while extracting small quantities of seabed rocks and cobalt-rich crusts.

Environmentalists, in conjunction with nations like Costa Rica and France, view the delay as an opportunity to rally additional support for a long-term pause or even a complete moratorium on seabed mining.

Sources

New York Times

Radio Free Asia

The moratorium will remain in place until strong environmental rules can be agreed and backed up by robust science.

"It is welcome news before the International Seabed Authority meets again next week to push through mining rules that could allow deep sea mining from July next year.

"We hope New Zealand will use its position to promote strong, robust rules and frameworks, supported by science, to protect the Ocean for all humanity," Caritas Director Mina Antonio says.

"We commend Minister Nanaia Mahuta and her officials for listening to the science and to the range of opinion on the topic in the Pacific, while respecting the sovereign rights and mana of countries to manage their own kaitiakitanga responsibilities," said added.

At the same time, however, Antonio says it's "imperative that national governments and international bodies take into account the many local and coastal communities around the Pacific that would be devastated by further damage to our stressed and abused Moana through seabed mining."

Caritas Oceania has been calling for a total ban on seabed mining in national and international waters throughout the Pacific since 2019.

Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand (CANZ) has also lobbied to protect New Zealand's environment and communities opposing an application to mine iron sands 30 kilometres offshore from South Taranaki.

Such activity would damage the ocean and have wider potential impacts through sediment plumes, CANZ stated at the time. Furthermore, it did not respect the territorial rights and responsibilities of the local Ngati Ruanui iwi.

The Government's continued support offers hope to those in the front line. It must keep pushing to safeguard further and protect the environment and communities, both here and overseas, Antonio says.

"Our Government's stance will give heart to many of our partners and associates throughout the region who are battling against seabed mining interests in both national and international waters.

"But we need to go further and give a clear signal that seabed mining in New Zealand waters is also unacceptable and a threat to our ocean ecosystem and coastal communities."

Source

• Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand

During a 12-day U.S. trip along the East Coast that concludes March 22, the head of the Port Moresby archdiocese on the South Pacific island nation has in numerous settings expressed his worry with the continuing impact of climate change on his and other islands, as well as the development of first-of-its-kind deep seabed mining in waters off his homeland.

Ribat, 61, has long spoken out about the impacts of climate change on the people of the Pacific islands, considered one of the ground zeros of global climate change, where rising seas have submerged portions of islands and have already led to communities relocating from their homes to nearby islands.

Last week, Ribat raised his concerns about climate change again on Capitol Hill in meetings with Sen. Edward Markey (D-Massachusetts) and officials for Sen. Jeff Markley (D-Oregon). Both sit on the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, and its subcommittee on fisheries, water and wildlife.

In their meeting, the cardinal pointed out on a map to Markey, who is Catholic, the locations of the islands as he described how rising seas have forced people to relocate farther inland every few years as the tides rise and come in farther themselves.

On Bougainville, one of Papua New Guinea's roughly 600 offshore islands, the diocese has offered a piece of land to help people resettle from the Carteret Islands, which have shrunk under rising ocean tides.

Ribat said that during a trip around Easter last year to Ahus and Andra islands he witnessed similar scenes of shorelines and agricultural lands that had washed away.

Sea level rise is driven by two primary factors: the oceans expanding as waters warm, and increased water mass due to melting ice from glaciers and ice sheets.

According to a climate science special report, published in November and compiled by 13 U.S. federal agencies,

• global mean sea levels have risen roughly 7 to 8 inches since 1900
• three inches since 1993, with
• human-driven climate change making "a substantial contribution" during that period.

Scientists project further rise of 1 to 4 feet by 2100 and have not ruled out a rise as high as 8 feet.

"When you're on an island, you get it, when you got to keep moving your house," said Franciscan Fr. Michael Lasky, who helped organize the cardinal's trip.

In the Capitol Hill meetings, Ribat also raised another problem accompanying rising tides: seawater seeping into the freshwater table underground and turning some crops inedible. "When they harvest them it's salty.

They cannot eat them anymore because the sea is rising," he said.

Clean water impacted

The impact of rising seas on clean water came up as well during a meeting March 15 with officials at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

He also reiterated concerns he shared with the senators' offices about new seabed mining technology set to begin next year in waters east of Papua New Guinea.

Nautilus Minerals, a Canadian-based company, in 2011 received a mining lease from the Papua New Guinea government for extracting deposits of copper and gold from the floor of the Bismarck Sea.

The project will be the world's first attempt at mineral extraction from the deep sea.

The mining operation — which would occur 1,600 meters, or nearly 1 mile, under the sea about 20 miles off the western coast of New Ireland and 31 miles north of New Britain, both islands east of Papua New Guinea — is set to begin in 2019.

According to Nautilus, the deposits of the deep sea Solwara 1 Field ("salt water" in the Tok Pisin language native to Papua New Guinea) contain copper and gold at grades much higher than typically found in land-based mines.

The potential mining site holds added significance for Ribat, who calls home Watom Island, off New Britain's north coast.

While on the island at Christmas, fishers shared with him anxieties over how the mining may impact fishing grounds. Continue reading

• Image: NCR