Companies investing heavily in exploring for precious seabed minerals have urged the International Seabed Authority (ISA) to adopt long-awaited deep-sea mining regulations by 2025, highlighting concerns about the lack of a legal framework.
Under UNCLOS, the Homeland Security Agency, based in Jamaica, is charged with protecting the seabed in areas beyond national jurisdiction and supervising mineral exploration and exploitation in these areas. While the Homeland Security Agency has been drafting rules for commercial exploitation for more than a decade, its board currently only awards exploration contracts.
Since July 2023, a legal provision invoked by Nauru allows any country to apply for a mining contract on behalf of a sponsored company, although there are no final regulations. The ISA Council aims to adopt a mining code this year to set rules for the extraction of seabed minerals such as nickel, cobalt and copper, which are critical to renewable energy transitions.
In a letter to the ISA Board obtained by AFP on Friday, eight companies, including Nauru Ocean Resources Inc., a subsidiary of Canada’s The Metals Company (TMC), expressed concerns about the delay. TMC plans to file its first exploit application in June.
“With this letter, we would like to express our concerns about the delay in the transition to the exploitation phase,” the companies wrote, urging the Council to finalize the regulations in 2025. They highlighted investments based on expectations of a legal framework that supports the transition from the exploitation phase. Exploration to exploitation
The companies, which are collectively investing about $2 billion in exploration, obtaining environmental data and developing mining technology, have warned of the impact of the delay. “The prolonged delay in adopting the Mining Act and the potential unwillingness of the Homeland Security Agency or its member states to meet these expectations are deeply concerning,” the letter said.