The abysses appear to some as promising new sources of potentially exploitable minerals. Even though their quantities and distributions are still poorly understood. These include polymetallic nodules, hydrothermal sulfides, and cobalt-rich crusts: all deposits at the bottom of the oceans, composed of minerals (manganese, nickel, copper, cobalt, zinc, titanium) exploitable by the industry.
In their territorial waters, each state can do as they please, but most of the minerals are found in the deep waters of international waters, governed by the International Seabed Authority, the ISA. It is the ISA that grants exploration permits and tomorrow could grant exploitation permits. Currently, there are none. All scientists and environmental advocates also warn of the risks that mining activities would pose to ecosystems in the abysses, but more broadly across the entire ocean. However, the pressure is increasing. It comes from economic actors and they come in various sizes.
Vincent Géronimi, professor of economics at the University of Versailles-Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, and director of the research unit “Sustainability and Resilience” (Umi Source).
“There are industrial actors who may be driven not only by profitability, but also by access to a rare resource. This is a first type of actors who often depend closely on a second type of economic actors, who are the financial actors. These latter will be responsible for raising financial resources on the financial markets. And then there are governments that may also have an interest in developing mining activities in the deep sea.”
The most well-known company in this sector is The Metals Company, TMC, based in Canada, led by Australian businessman Gerard Baron. He had promised Papua New Guinea enormous benefits if it mined its waters in 2019. The country launched the Solwara project, an ecological and economic disaster. The project was stopped and cost Papua New Guinea 120 million dollars.
“This story tells us that the transition from geological resource to an economic reserve and economic profitability is very complex, because there are a lot of uncertainties at different stages,” analyzes Vincent Geronimi. “And this tells us about the role of financial markets in the exploitation or exploration of natural resources frontiers. Today, financial markets create narratives that should allow them to raise funds. These narratives are often based on very uncertain estimates of the profitability conditions of the projects they support.”
All of this today is holding back private actors from going it alone.
Now, around 40 states, including France, are calling for a moratorium of at least ten years on the exploitation of seabed minerals. Others, such as the United States, China, Japan, show a willingness to start extractive activities. And it was Donald Trump who went the furthest. In January, he simplified the procedure for companies to access exploitation permits. This is a way to bypass the International Seabed Authority and create an international standoff. The company TMC submitted an application shortly after. The response is expected in the coming weeks.
