Battery-metal rush pits miners against marine biologists
https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/battery-metal-rush-pits-miners-against-marine-biologists/
...
The International Seabed Authority is preparing to pass regulations in
July that could trigger a rush to extract metals needed to power the
electric-vehicle revolution. Environmentalists say that would endanger
fragile marine ecosystems and fear the ISA is too closely aligned with
the emergent mining industry.
...
The need to supply emissions-free vehicles has put the focus more than
three kilometers (1.9 miles) down in the Pacific Ocean, where cobalt and
nickel reserves dwarf those found in the Democratic Republic of Congo
and Indonesia, the biggest terrestrial producers of the two metals.
...
Previous attempts to mine the ocean depths, including the CIA’s Summa
and Deep Sea Ventures, stalled in the 1970s. More recently, Nautilus
Minerals left most investors out of pocket and incensed
environmentalists by threatening to destroy coral reefs in the waters
off Papua New Guinea.
...
There is uncertainty over how sediment plumes kicked up by mining the
seabed will spread, potentially changing ocean chemistry and harming
fish. Research has also shown that disturbances to the ocean floor have
a lasting impact almost three decades later.
...
Miners will be subject to annual reporting requirements and independent
monitoring to verify that they’re adhering to environmental regulations,
according to an ISA statement in response to questions. The body was
established in 1994 under the UN’s Convention on the Law of the Sea to
ensure the minerals located in international waters are only tapped for
the benefit of humanity.
...
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