Latest news with #seabedmining
ABC News
a day ago
- Business
- ABC News
Cook Islands and US start talks on seabed mining
As the Cook Islands mark 60 years of self-governance, the United States has begun talks with the island nation about researching seabed mineral exploration and development. According to a joint statement, the two governments have begun discussions to support scientific research that will inform the responsible exploration and development of seabed mineral resources within the Cook Islands' Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). "The Government of the United States of America has begun discussions with the Government of the Cook Islands to support the research necessary to inform seabed exploration and responsible development within the Cook Islands' Exclusive Economic Zone," the State Department said in a statement. US-linked firms "sit at the forefront" of deep seabed mineral research and exploration in the Cook Islands, it said. In June, New Zealand suspended millions of dollars in budget funding to the Cook Islands after its prime minister signed partnership agreements with China without consultation. Those agreements committed them to deepening cooperation in seabed mining, as well as in education, the economy, infrastructure, fisheries, and disaster management. "This collaboration reflects a shared commitment to scientific advancement, environmental stewardship, and sustainable economic growth," the joint statement said. The announcement comes at a time of growing geopolitical interest in the Pacific Islands, where countries like China have increased their engagement through defence, trade, and infrastructure deals. Western nations, including the US and New Zealand, have been working to strengthen relationships with Pacific nations to support regional stability and development. New Zealand, which shares constitutional ties with the Cook Islands, recently expressed support for the new US-Cook Islands partnership, emphasising the rights of Pacific states to manage their natural resources. Diplomatic relations between the US and the Cook Islands were formally established in 2023, and officials on both sides say this new initiative marks a significant step forward. "Together, we commit to advancing responsible development of seabed minerals and global scientific understanding of the deep ocean, and to setting a high standard for transparent seabed resources management," the joint statement said. ABC/Reuters
RNZ News
2 days ago
- Business
- RNZ News
Tonga signs updated seabed mining agreement with The Metals Company
Tonga and The Metals Company revise seabed mining agreement Photo: The Metals Company Tonga has a new contract with Canadian mining group The Metals Company (TMC) The deep sea mining frontrunner announced the "revised sponsorship agreement" between the Tongan government and TMC's subsidiary Tonga Offshore Mining Ltd in a press release on Monday. It is for a deep sea mining area of international waters Tonga has special rights to through international oceans law . The area is known as the Clarion Clipperton zone (CCZ). Tonga and TMC's previous contract for the country's block in the CCZ was signed 2021. The contract was for exploration activity only, and was signed through the International Seabed Authority (ISA) framework. The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOIS) recognises the ISA as the world's deep sea mining regulator. However, the United States has effectively challenged that by saying its own high seas legislation makes it a deep sea mining regulator in international waters. Prior to this year, TMC's contracts with its Pacific partners, which includes Nauru as well as Tonga, had been through the ISA framework. Nauru, like Tonga, has special rights in the CCZ. The country signed a new agreement with TMC in May which had provisions for mining to occur through both the ISA and US pathways. TMC's announcement this week said Tonga's new contract was "updating the terms of the agreement" from 2021. It did not specify whether the contract covered mining activity under both the US and ISA pathways. It also said Tonga would receive benefits should mining occur through its company, and that Tonga was committed to working with the ISA and meeting obligations under international law. Tonga's Natural Resources Minister said the contract marked "an important step toward ensuring that seabed minerals activities contribute meaningfully to Tonga's long-term development goals - with transparency, fairness, and environmental care at the core." Last week, RNZ Pacific reported the Civil Society Forum of Tonga wanted its government to refrain from signing a new agreement with TMC. Its chair Drew Havea said the group wanted Tonga out of deep sea mining entirely.
Reuters
2 days ago
- Business
- Reuters
US says it has started seabed mineral talks with the Cook Islands
WASHINGTON, Aug 5 (Reuters) - The United States has begun talks with the Cook Islands for research on seabed mineral exploration and development, the U.S. State Department said on Tuesday. The Cook Islands lie halfway between New Zealand and Hawaii and are made up of 15 islands and atolls. Western nations that traditionally held sway in the Pacific Islands have become increasingly concerned about China's plans to increase influence after Beijing signed defense, trade and financial deals with Pacific countries in recent years. "The Government of the United States of America has begun discussions with the Government of the Cook Islands to support the research necessary to inform seabed exploration and responsible development within the Cook Islands' Exclusive Economic Zone," the State Department said in a statement. U.S.-linked firms "sit at the forefront" of deep seabed mineral research and exploration in the Cook Islands, it said. In June, New Zealand suspended millions of dollars in budget funding to the Cook Islands after its prime minister signed partnership agreements with China without consulting Wellington. Those agreements committed them to deepening cooperation in seabed mining as well as education, the economy, infrastructure, fisheries and disaster management. On Wednesday, New Zealand's foreign ministry said it was aware of the new arrangement with the U.S. and respected "the rights and responsibilities of states to manage their mineral resources". The Cook Islands were within New Zealand's borders from 1901. In 1965, the country became self-governing but in free association with New Zealand. The constitutional ties require the two countries to consult on security, defense and foreign policy.
RNZ News
23-07-2025
- Politics
- RNZ News
Elation as Whanganui gets voice in fast-track seabed mining decision
Whanganui councillor Charlotte Melser says it is crucial for the council to have its say about how a South Taranaki seabed mining proposal would negatively impact Whanganui. Photo: Tuakana Te Tana A Whanganui District councillor is "elated" her council has been named a relevant authority in the fast-track application process for a seabed mining project off South Taranaki. The recognition means Whanganui could have opportunities other councils and the public may not have to state a position on an Australian company's seabed mining application. Taranaki Regional Council and South Taranaki District Council have also been confirmed by the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) as relevant local authorities to the Taranaki VTM project. The Fast Track Approvals Act 2024, introduced by the coalition government, does not allow the public to freely submit on the application. A decision on the application will be made by a panel created by the EPA for this purpose. Whanganui councillor Charlotte Melser, who opposes Taranaki seabed mining, said the council now had the opportunity to potentially influence the decision. "It means our foot is in the door to have our say about how this proposal would negatively impact our district. I was elated," Melser told Local Democracy Reporting. It was critical for the council to have a voice in the fast-track process because the legislation provided limited opportunities for public input, she said. Seabed mining protesters off Autere East End Beach in Ngāmotu/New Plymouth. Photo: Supplied/Niwa Photographer Courtesy Tania Under the Act, only relevant local authorities, identified iwi authorities and select others can make written comments on the application. "It cuts out the voices of community, scientists, environmentalists, divers - some of the people that know that marine area better than anyone," Melser said. "We've had to fight tooth and nail just to get this far because Whanganui is not directly in the project zone." Trans-Tasman Resources (TTR) wants to extract up to 50 million tonnes a year of seabed material a year. It would recover an estimated 5 million tonnes of vanadium-rich titanomagnetite concentrate and then dump unwanted sediment back into the sea. TRR's application says the project would bring regional benefits including 305 jobs with the miner and port upgrades at New Plymouth and Whanganui. TTR withdrew from an environmental hearing to apply for marine consents via the new fast-track approvals regime. The councils named as relevant local authorities can nominate a representative to the decision-making panel, provide written comments on the application and speak to those comments if a hearing is held. They met with iwi, TTR and the EPA's expert panel convenor Jennifer Caldwell on 7 July to discuss the expertise needed on the panel and the timing of its decision-making. Whanganui council chief executive David Langford summarised his council's position in a letter to Caldwell prior to the conference. The key concerns were environmental, particularly the negative impact of the sediment plume, which would impact the Whanganui district; cultural, particularly the conflict of the proposal with treaty obligations and settlements; and economic, specifically the adverse impact of the proposal for the district. Photo: "Our council would like to emphasise the need for expertise to consider the potential economic disbenefit of the proposal with regards to its conflict with offshore wind farming in the Taranaki Bight," Langford said. Whanganui District had been identified as one of the best locations in the world for wind energy and the council was pursuing opportunities for renewable energy investment, including offshore wind farming, Langford said. "Our view is that this one project could stand in the way of other projects which would not only provide significant economic benefits for our district (and beyond), but also better align with the government's strategic objectives around climate, energy, and industrial transformation goals (for example, to double New Zealand's renewable electricity production by 2050)." The scale and nature of the proposed extraction, along with the resuspension of seabed sediments, could impact ecological and cultural features which each had their own potential economic impact, Langford said. He said the complex and contentious nature of the application would mean a considerable amount of time would be required to reach a decision. "Not only is the fast-track process and its underpinning legislation new, but the proposed mining activity is also a world first." Langford said it would be important to include the council throughout the process. "We do not believe we should be precluded from any step of this process on the basis that our council has filed a motion opposing the project - our relevance remains, regardless of our position." In December last year, Melser's motion opposing the project won the unanimous support of fellow councillors. A public-excluded meeting at Taranaki Regional Council was expected to decide this week on a collective council nomination to the panel. Caldwell is expected to appoint a panel by late July. LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air
Japan Times
22-07-2025
- Business
- Japan Times
Trump's critical minerals obsession reignites deep-sea mining
The leader of one of the most aggressive seabed mining startups spent years invoking global warming to spark interest in extracting avocado-sized rocks rich in electric-vehicle battery metals from the bottom of the ocean. "We want to help the world transition away from fossil fuels with the smallest possible climate change and environmental impact,' Gerard Barron, the Australian chief executive officer of a company then known as DeepGreen, told a 2019 meeting of the United Nations-affiliated International Seabed Authority, which for a decade has been debating regulations to allow the mining of untouched, biodiverse deep-sea ecosystems in global waters. That's not Barron's pitch anymore. Climate was out and critical minerals were in during an appearance earlier this year before a congressional committee in Washington, DC. His firm, renamed as The Metals Company (TMC), would help "ensure the nation's energy security and industrial competitiveness for generations,' Barron said. "China is close behind.' Barron's new tack is working. In April, President Donald Trump issued an executive order expediting U.S. licensing of seabed mining, departing from international law to unleash what the administration called a "gold rush' to "counter China's growing influence.' The country is set to conduct ISA-sanctioned tests of two seabed mining machines in the Pacific over the next year. Kenny Bolster, Senior Scientist at Viridian Biometals, holds a sample of polymetallic nodules at the Viridian Biometals lab in Pasadena, California on June 25th. | Wolf Image / via Bloomberg China already dominates the critical minerals supply chain on land, and TMC had successfully tapped into the U.S. president's pursuit of China-free metals, expressed as a desire for dominion over Canada and Greenland. The global seabed, TMC repeatedly emphasized as it lobbied politicians and the White House, holds the planet's largest estimated reserves of minerals like cobalt and nickel in the form of black rocks called polymetallic nodules. These cover the Pacific Ocean floor by the billions. In an instant, Trump cleared the way for a race to the abyss to extract nodules, even though seabed mining technology remains under development and commercially unproven. At the ISA's annual meeting in Kingston, Jamaica, delegates on Monday decried Trump's move, with China's representative denouncing the U.S. for "unilateralist hegemonic acts' and attempting to "replace the global standards with U.S. standards.' Within days of Trump's order, Canadian-registered TMC's U.S. subsidiary filed the world's first application to mine the seabed in international waters, including an area it licenses from the ISA. An $85 million investment from a leading Korean metals processor soon followed. Nasdaq-listed TMC's shares, which have periodically languished below a dollar, hit a 52-week high of $8.19 on Thursday. A Silicon Valley startup called Impossible Metals, meanwhile, has applied for a license to explore and possibly mine nodules in U.S. waters off American Samoa, with an aim to raise $1 billion. Then on July 14, a top executive at U.S. defense giant Lockheed Martin told the Financial Times the company is in talks to give seabed miners access to international areas of the Pacific it licenses from the U.S. A Lockheed Martin spokesperson declined to confirm the report but said, "We appreciate the Trump administration's focus on ensuring reliable sources of critical minerals, including the ocean.' On Monday, delegates in Kingston ordered a report on ISA-licensed seabed miners at risk of violating their contracts with the body, a thinly veiled reference to TMC and other companies that might also seek to apply for U.S. licenses to mine in international waters. The Trump-triggered seabed mining boom faces significant hurdles, though. While TMC has told investors it expects to begin mining within a year of receiving a license, the technology to extract minerals from the seabed at depths of four kilometers could be years away from being deployed at scale. Its competitiveness with terrestrial mining is unknown, as is the economic viability of processing and refining seabed minerals amid seesawing metal prices and the growing market share of battery technologies not reliant on nodule metals. The U.S. lacks such metallurgical capacity, and it could take years to bring online in the few countries outside of China with the potential to refine nodule minerals. "Given the rapid evolution of batteries and other relevant technologies, there is great uncertainty about the future demand for critical minerals,' researchers at RAND wrote in a recent report. "A seabed mining industry, as a whole, faces considerable opposition from nations and organizations concerned about the potential negative environmental impacts.' The White House did not respond to a request for comment. Gerard Barron, chief executive of The Metals Company, at Times Square in New York on Sept. 17, 2021. | Ashley Gilbertson / The New York Times The countries that TMC relies on for seabed mining and processing technology are among the ISA's 169 member nations (plus the European Union) that oppose unilateral mining in international waters. Amid such backlash, a Japanese corporation, Pacific Metals Company, that planned to process TMC's nodules has now told investors that it would only "launch operations once the international rules are finalized.' "All those parties have a legal obligation to ensure that deep sea mining only takes place through the ISA,' says Samantha Robb, an Amsterdam-based attorney who specializes in ocean litigation. At the ISA, delegates convened behind closed doors on Friday to debate how to respond to TMC's plans. Barron, who once sat with the delegation of a tiny Pacific island nation that sponsors one of TMC's ISA contracts, has been absent this year but he's weighing in from afar. "Amid some noisy grandstanding coming out of Jamaica this month, this is a good reminder ... the U.S. has every right to pursue seafloor resources in international waters,' he wrote Wednesday on X. In a statement, TMC said it was "on firm legal and regulatory footing,' citing the sizable investments it's recently attracted. The company, however, cautioned investors in a May securities filing that a U.S. mining license wouldn't be recognized internationally, which could affect "logistics, processing and market access' for the seabed minerals TMC mines. 'It's going to take some time' More than a thousand miles southwest of Mexico on a September morning in 2022, a yellow, 80-metric-ton machine slowly rumbled across the seabed on tank-like treads, a plume of sediment billowing behind. During a two-month test for TMC, the 38-foot-long prototype vacuumed up 3,000 metric tons of nodules, sending them through a tube to a specialized surface vessel called the Hidden Gem. TMC hailed the trial as a success. Yet any commercial operations are a ways off, even if the U.S. grants TMC a mining license this year, given technological and legal obstacles that must be overcome. Matthew Lavichant, an intern at Viridian Biometals, plates wells in preparation for conducting a test on samples. | Wolf Image / via Bloomberg Allseas, a Dutch-owned, Swiss-registered offshore engineering and construction company, developed the technology, the world's only working prototype of a nodule mining system. The company supplies the apparatus to TMC and is its second-largest shareholder. To meet TMC's production targets, it must now build a much bigger version capable of harvesting nodules nearly around the clock under crushing pressure far from shore. A U.S. seabed mining license, however, would require TMC to deploy American-built and owned vessels. How the companies would comply with that mandate is unclear. Allseas said in a statement that it would take about two years to engineer the technical systems to support full-scale mining but it won't begin that work "until we are confident that all relevant regulatory conditions are met.' Allseas, which itself owns an ISA-licensed seabed mining company, has come under pressure from Dutch politicians and activists not to provide technology for unilateral mining. A laboratory ball mill used to pulverize polymetallic nodules. A bioreactor that contains polymetallic nodule bits and microbes. | Wolf Image / via Bloomberg TMC says it can't comment while its U.S. mining license application is under review. But in a May 14 securities filing the company said it's "evaluating U.S.-based vessel' options. However, the U.S. hasn't built a specialized seabed mining ship like the Hidden Gem, and only eight U.S. ocean-going bulk cargo carriers — large ships that can hold tens of thousands of pounds of nodules and transport them to shore — are in service. Seven of them are at or near the end of their lifespan, according to a 2024 U.S. Maritime Administration report. Impossible Metals uses a nodule collector, called Eureka, that's designed to hover above the ocean floor, its robotic claws selecting individual nodules that its artificial intelligence program determines aren't inhabited by marine organisms. (Scientists estimate that at least 30% to 40% of deep ocean life in the seabed targeted for mining live on nodules.) The company has delayed a planned trial of the Eureka in an ISA-licensed area of the Pacific until at least 2027 because the technology needs further refinement. And any mining wouldn't happen until at least the early 2030s. Impossible Metals' mining license application is for U.S. waters, not areas controlled by ISA. "That's far less controversial,' said CEO Oliver Gunasekara. "But obviously it's going to take some time.' What it takes to process a nodule In a small lab in Pasadena, California, scientists at an Impossible Metals spinoff called Viridian Biometals are trying to crack a problem about as challenging as pulling nodules out of the abyss: getting the metals out of the nodules. Nodule minerals precipitate out of seawater, forming layers around a piece of whale bone, a shark tooth or another small object at the rate of a few millimeters every million years. Unlike terrestrial minerals, where a couple of different metals might be found together in a deposit, nodules contain nickel, cobalt and copper particles scattered throughout every rock, mostly embedded in a matrix of manganese oxide. A laboratory ball mill used to pulverize polymetallic nodules. A bioreactor that contains polymetallic nodule bits and microbes. | Wolf Image / via Bloomberg "The treatment of materials that contain all four of these elements is not something that is commercially done today,' said Lyle Trytten, a veteran of the metals processing industry and president of Canada-based Trytten Consulting Services. Viridian scientists are tinkering with rock-breathing microbes that oxidize nodules to extract the most valuable metals. On a June afternoon, senior scientist Kenny Bolster opens up what looks like a freezer to reveal stainless steel bioreactors. As microbes inside oxide the manganese bits, they release nickel, cobalt and copper ions into a solution. "All this happens at ambient temperature and pressure, which saves an enormous amount of energy and doesn't produce any toxic waste,' says Viridian CEO Eric Macris. It'll take a few years to assess whether the technology is likely to be commercially feasible. "We love what Viridian is doing but we're just not sure if it will be mature enough when we need it,' says Impossible Metals' Gunasekara. If TMC, Impossible Metals and other companies mine the ocean floor under a U.S. license, then federal law requires the minerals to be processed and refined in America. Aside from Viridian's early efforts, the U.S. has no such capacity. A single facility in the U.S. capable of processing and refining nodules would cost several billion dollars, and could take up to a decade to reach full production, in part due to the complexities of handling an entirely new feedstock, according to Niels Verbaan, director of metallurgy technical services for Swiss testing and certification company SGS. The U.S. tax and spending bill enacted on July 4 allocates $5.5 billion to the Department of Defense for investments in critical minerals supply chains. But the U.S. has suffered a precipitous decline in metallurgical expertise since the 1980s when universities began to eliminate related degree programs. "We are decades behind now, and it's going to be very hard to catch up,' says Corby Anderson, a professor of metallurgical and materials engineering at the Colorado School of Mines. New immigration restrictions will also make it harder to recruit engineering talent from overseas. Samples of polymetallic nodules at the Viridian Biometals lab. Photographer: Alex Welsh/Bloomberg | Samples of polymetallic nodules at the Viridian Biometals lab. Photographer: Alex Welsh/Bloomberg Wolf Image China has invested heavily in the industry and is now in a position to retrofit existing facilities to process nodules or build dedicated new plants. The country processes 74% of the world's cobalt ore, according to a 2024 report from the Wilson Center, a nonpartisan think tank, while 97% of global nickel ore processing capacity lies outside of North America. China also maintains more than 80% of the capacity for refining those metals into advanced EV battery materials. There's few existing facilities outside of China capable of handling nodules, even if a U.S. seabed miner receives permission to use them and the owners are willing to revamp operations, according to industry executives. "These processing plants are not just sitting there idle begging for feed, they're all in use today,' says Trytten. The 'blue whale' in the room TMC has found one overseas metals processor willing to make the switch. Last year, Pacific Metals Company of Japan fed a 2,000-ton pile of nodules collected by TMC in 2022 into an electric-arc furnace to produce 500 tons of a material. In February, it was smelted into a nickel-cobalt-copper alloy. "These process plants are very expensive to build, they're very complicated, they're very risky,' says Jeffrey Donald, TMC's head of onshore development. "So by using an existing asset, existing operators, you're really taking that capital off the front end and you're really de-risking the technology and operations aspect.' The Maersk Launcher, a ship chartered in 2021 by The Metals Company to explore the potential of seabed mining, in Pacific waters near Rosarito, Mexico, June 7, 2021. | Tamir Kalifa / The New York Times In April, Pacific Metals announced it would transition from processing nickel ore to smelting nodules. But it doesn't expect full production to begin until 2029 at the earliest. TMC has also struck a deal with metals giant Korea Zinc, which is assessing the feasibility of refining nodules into battery materials, a process TMC has so far tested only in the lab. Whether nations would be enabling deep-sea mining through commercial relationships with U.S.-licensed seabed mining companies was the subject of whispered conversations among ISA delegates this month as they continued drafting mining regulations. Trump's move to mine in international waters and TMC's defiance of the ISA was, as French ambassador Olivier Guyonvarch alluded, "the blue whale' in the room. The U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea prohibits unilateral mining by any country or corporation. It also requires the ISA to administer the global seabed for the benefit of humanity, with any royalties from mining divided among member states. The U.S. never ratified the treaty, though it had generally adhered to its provisions and still participates in ISA proceedings as an observer. Pressure is growing on member states to not supply technology to seabed mining companies the U.S. licenses, process their nodules or buy metals from them, as the treaty mandates ISA countries treat unilateral mining as illegitimate. Thirty-seven ISA countries support a moratorium on seabed mining until its environmental impacts are better understood. "The risks of bypassing the ISA's oversight are not only legal, they are also economic,' ISA Secretary-General Leticia Carvalho said in a statement. "Product lines derived from ventures that violate international law will carry reputational and legal concerns that increase the risk of the investment and can undermine its return.' Pacific Metals appears to have gotten the message. In a recent investor briefing, the company, which did not respond to requests for comment, emphasized that when it comes to nodule processing, it considers "international credibility to be a material issue.'
