Greenpeace activists protesting around MV Coco, a specialised vessel collecting data for The Metals Company in November 2023. Photo: Supplied / Greenpeace / Martin Katz
The chief executive of a deep sea mining frontrunner has written a scathing letter addressing the International Seabed Authority (ISA) after chasing a permit to mine through the United States.
The ISA, established under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), is charged with coming up with deep sea mining rules in international waters.
However, Canadian firm The Metals Company (TMC) is attempting to bypass the ISA by applying to mine under the Trump administration through its US subsidiary.
The company would do this under the United States' Deep Seabed Hard Minerals Resources Act of 1980.
ISA secretary-general Leticia Carvalho said she was deeply concerned by the notification.
"This remains the only universally recognised legitimate framework," Carvalho said in a statement addressing TMC's announcement.
"Any unilateral action would constitute a violation of international law and directly undermine the fundamental principles of multilateralism, the peaceful use of the oceans and the collective governance framework established under UNCLOS."
Almost 40 nations condemned the actions of the company at the ISA council meeting in Kingston, Jamaica, on Friday, including Russia and China.
International Seabed Authority flag Photo: flickr / ISBA HQ
TMC is looking to mine in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ) located in the high seas between Hawai'i and Mexico.
The company's CEO Gerard Barron has responded in a letter, which said the ISA is "being influenced by a faction of States allied with environmental NGOs who see the deep sea mining industry as their 'last green trophy'".
"After 16 years of engaging with the Authority in good faith, we are increasingly concerned that the ISA may not adopt the Exploitation Regulations in a timely manner and that the regulations may be written in a way so as to not allow commercial enterprises to operate."
Barron said despite Carvalho's statement the ISA does not have "an exclusive mandate to regulate seabed mining activities" in the area.
He said there are existing claims outside of UNCLOS.
"The freedom to mine the deep seabed, like the freedom of navigation, is a high seas freedom enjoyed by all nations."
The US is not a member of the ISA because it has not ratified UNCLOS.
Barron said the US "made the right decision when they chose not to ratify UNCLOS".
He said the US has a fully developed regulatory regime to allow US citizens to pursue exploration and commercial recovery activities, unlike the ISA.
An international lawyer with organisation the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition, Duncan Currie, said if the US supports TMC it would open the door for other countries to do the same thing, which would "amount to a free-for-all on seabed mining".
He said it would also bring about chaos in the high seas.
"As soon as you start messing around with UNCLOS, which is really the Constitution for the oceans, you start to interfere with all sorts of things, right from navigation, fisheries, the maritime boundaries, you name it.
"It really goes to the very heart, soul, and core for Pacific countries which are incredibly dependent on the ocean."
Nauru and Tonga act as the firm's official state sponsor at the ISA.
Currie said TMC has not left the ISA, but the move towards the US has left the Pacific nations in the lurch.
"I would have thought that both Tonga and Nauru authorities must be feeling very disturbed and very concerned by these developments, because for so long they have been put at odds with other Pacific countries which don't want to see seabed mining and been doing what The Metals Company wanted."
