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Urgency around Seabed Mining Increases as Scientific Data Comes In

Industry needs batteries and batteries need metals. As numerous studies have concluded, even with slightly slower than previously anticipated growth in EV adoption and renewable energy (wind and solar) buildout, demand for metals going into lithium batteries is expected to exceed current estimates for said metals’ production as early as 2026-28. The implied need to find and develop sufficient new resources of these metals to satisfy the expected demand has become a major focus for battery and auto OEMs, as well as governments set on the path to electrification of their economies. More plentiful, less harmful. Many industry and investment banks’ reports also conclude that traditional terrestrial resources in the development or even exploration phase currently are not sufficient to meet the expected demand, suggesting other unconventional resources require commercial development. While brines have been looked to as a way to address lithium supply needs, other metals (nickel, copper, cobalt, and manganese) can be found in another unconventional resource, the deep-sea floor, where these metals are present in high concentrations in the form of polymetallic nodules. Although preventing seabed mining has been environmental activists’ sacred cow, emerging scientific data from real-world observations and its analysis is proving that mining a low biomass location like a seafloor is materially less damaging to the environment and ocean life than terrestrial mining. It also releases an order of magnitude lower carbon emissions, compared with land-based mines, without the need to destroy jungles and rainforests and forcibly relocate (at best) the indigenous population, as developing new mines in the DRC and Indonesia would do, and without the need to treat and dispose of overburden and tailings. Politics will drive action. The important role seabed polymetallic nodules can play in the world’s attempts to transition away from hydrocarbon-based economy and, equally important, the role these resources can play in reducing Western economies’ dependence on the Chinese-based supply chain for critical metals, has gained attention recently in government circles as well. In the US, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) signed earlier this year requires the Pentagon to provide a report assessing the feasibility of building a domestic metals supply chain based on deep-sea resources, such as polymetallic nodules. In addition, a bill has been introduced in Congress (HR-1082) calling for funding of deep-sea mining projects, which may benefit directly companies like OMEX and TMC, who are already the leaders in deep-sea exploration and development of such resources. With international regulations regarding deep-sea mining of minerals and metals coming closer to fruition, former military and political leaders in the US have renewed the call for the country to finally ratify the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and take its seat at the table to help advance the seabed mining industry and help it realize its potential as an important contributor to the efforts to decarbonize global economy. Question of when, not if. The Secretary General of the International Seabed Authority (ISA), a UN agency tasked with developing an international mining code for seafloor mining, acknowledged that despite some countries’ opposition, the issuance of the mining code and subsequent development of these resources are only a matter of time.