New Mining Techniques: Exploring the Deep Sea

Deep seabed mining might be necessary to replenish the depleting resources under the earth’s surface. Additionally, the policies should be designed to cause the least damage to the ocean floor as the marine biological communities exist in a fragile ecosystem, and hence, the policies should try to maintain the same delicate balance.[1] In addition, the seabed holds trillions of dollars’ worth of minerals that the mining companies are planning to extract as polymetallic nodules. These are rich in critical minerals such as manganese, copper, nickel, and cobalt.[2]

Legal Framework for Marine and Maritime Activities

The United Nations Convention of Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) treaty was signed in 1982 in Jamaica, replacing the Geneva Conventions of 1958 regarding the territorial sea and the contiguous zone, the continental shelf, the high seas, fishing and conservation of living resources on the high seas. The UNCLOS provides the legal framework for marine and maritime activities[3] as well as distinguishes the maritime zones under various coastal states and the areas beyond the national waters. The UNCLOS was signed by about 200 countries, of which 168 have ratified it.[4]

The deep seabed is about 200mt below sea level. The section of the continent that lies beneath the shallow water areas are called the shelf sea.[5] Under the UNCLOS, the international waters are regulated by the International Seabed Authority (ISA), but the regulations on deep seabed mining have not yet been completed. While the regulation for exploration has been adopted, the exploitation regulations are still being developed.[6] The ISA had issued about 31 exploration contracts by May 2021 to private companies. However, exploitation contracts have not been awarded for mining areas beyond the national jurisdictions (ABNJ).[7]

Demand for Deep-sea Minerals

With the growing need for minerals for industrialisation, seabed mining is being discussed as a potential to meet the demand. Minerals such as cobalt, lithium, nickel, copper, vanadium and indium are critical to realise the transition to green technologies. Assumptions for growth in their demand are based on the future availability of energy-related technologies and their implication on metal demand and manufacturing.[8]

Environmental Externalities

Mining deep-sea minerals present various technological challenges such as extreme operating depth, offshore distance, high pressure, low temperatures and physical forces like waves, currents and winds. Moreover, deep-sea mining has lasting environmental impacts too. One of its negative externalities is a higher sedimentation rate clogging the feeding apparatus of organisms living on the seafloor. In addition, the discharge of tailings and effluent below the oxygen-minimum zone might change the environment in the area, causing negative impacts on the zooplankton species, deep-diving marine mammals and fish. Finally, the surface waters could be affected through bioaccumulation of trace metals and harm phytoplankton and marine animals.[9]

Proponents of seabed mining assert that extracting minerals from the deep ocean will inflict less environmental damage than surface mining. However, scientists worry that the sedimentation could cause widespread ecological damage and kill deep-sea fauna. Without appropriate regulations, seabed mining will erode the ocean’s capacity to provide essential ecological services.[10] Restoring the marine ecosystems in the post-mining scenario cannot be achieved completely. Additionally, there are gaps in the knowledge of the extent of damage caused by deep-sea mining to flora and fauna. The current uncertainty of the governance and regulations has made it more difficult to predict the scale of impact of mining.[11]

Plan for India

India has sponsored exploration contracts in the international seabed and has been active since the 1980s. India was the first of the registered investors following the adoption of UNCLOS.[12] In 2009, the National Institute of Oceanography in Goa and the ISA launched the Technical Assistance Programme for Marine Scientific Research (TAP-MAR). The goal was to support interdisciplinary research incorporating exploration, ecosystems, biodiversity and environment impact assessments.[13] The Centre for Marine Living Resources and Ecology (CMLRE), under the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), proposed the Deep Ocean Mission to explore resources and develop deep-sea technologies for sustainable use.[14] The Indian government has approved this mission, and it will be implemented in phases, with the first phase for three years, from 2021 to 2024. The mission has six major components:[15]

• The development of deep seabed mining technologies and submersibles. The plan is to develop an integrated mining system for mining Polymetallic Nodules from about 6000 mt depth in the Indian Ocean. Continuous exploration of minerals will help India prepare for commercial exploitation following the International Seabed Authority’s code and rules.
• The development of ocean climate-change advisory services to understand and future projections of important climate variables will support coastal tourism.
• Technological innovations for exploration and conservation of deep-sea biodiversity with the main focus on sustainable utilisation.
• Survey and exploration of multi-metal hydrothermal sulphides in the Indian Ocean.
• Studying and designing an offshore Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) powered desalination plant.
• Development of human capacity and enterprise in ocean engineering and biology.

Going Forward

Proper regulations and protection measures need to be established to ensure the least damage to the marine ecosystem. While the regulatory framework is important, it is essential to evaluate the enforcement of these measures.

The non-Convention members theoretically cannot mine in the ISA-administered areas, but there are limited global enforcement mechanisms to oversee it. Mandates should be binding on the mining companies to guarantee environmental protection and compensation for damage done through environmental impact assessments.[16]

[The author would like to thank Dr Rajesh Chadha, Senior Fellow, CSEP for his comments and inputs.]