SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Deep-sea mining companies face a blizzard of litigation if they forge ahead with “unlawful” plans backed by United States President Donald Trump to dig critical minerals from the ocean floor, the head of the International Seabed Authority (ISA) told Agence France-Presse (afp) on Friday.
The United Nations-backed body is tasked with setting regulations for deep-sea mining in international waters, and is currently drafting the founding set of rules for the polarizing industry.
Frustrated after years of waiting for this legal framework, a string of companies have declared they will sidestep the authority and instead start mining using untested US laws.
ISA Secretary-General Leticia Carvalho said she would “firmly consider this to be unlawful activity.”
“No entity alone, no country alone, no investor alone has the right to benefit or tap into resources in the areas outside of its jurisdiction,” she told AFP.
“I can envisage a big amount of litigation coming if this happens.
“This unilateral action will trigger many, many legal systems. And I hope this regulatory cacophony is not going to happen.”
Companies hope to earn billions by scraping the ocean floor for polymetallic nodules loaded with manganese, cobalt and nickel.
Surging demand for these critical minerals has been driven by the rise of electric vehicles, rechargeable batteries and durable alloys used in everything from construction to medicine.
Critics fear deep-sea mining will smother marine life with waste and the noise of heavy machinery will disrupt oceanic migrations.
Dozens of nations, including the United Kingdom, France and Germany, have called for mining to be either permanently banned or temporarily halted until these environmental fears can be addressed.
While exploration for deep-sea mining is far advanced, no company or nation has started production on a commercial scale.
They have been forced to wait as the ISA’s 172 members hash out a detailed “mining code” covering everything from the safe operation of mining vessels to methods for measuring environmental damage.
