International community issues warning about deep-sea mining

The International Seabed Authority (ISA) issued a warning on Monday (21) against those who wish to explore minerals on the high seas outside international law, such as the Canadian company The Metals Company (TMC), which decided to bypass the organization by appealing to President Donald Trump.

The ISA, created by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), is responsible for managing the seabed in international waters and the mineral resources they contain.

ISA is currently negotiating the future “mining code” that will establish the rules for the extraction of metals coveted for the energy transition.

But in April, Trump, taking advantage of the fact that the United States is not a member of either the ISA or UNCLOS, ordered his government to speed up the granting of permits for underwater mining, even outside the country's territorial waters.

TMC was quick to seize this opportunity and, through its subsidiary in the United States, submitted the first application for a license for commercial extraction from the deep seabed, with the aim of collecting polymetallic nodules, a type of gravel rich in cobalt, copper, nickel and manganese.

Until then, the Canadian company planned to submit this first exploration license application to the ISA through its subsidiary Nori (Nauru Ocean Resources Inc.), sponsored by Nauru, a small island state in Oceania.

Since 2011, Nori has had a contract to explore an area in the Pacific, which expires within a year but can be extended.

The decision adopted Monday in Kingston by the 36 member states of the Council, the ISA's executive body, does not directly mention the TMC. However, it urges the Authority's Legal and Technical Committee, which issues crucial opinions on the renewal of operating contracts, to "pay particular attention to any breaches" by the companies holding these contracts of their obligations within the "multilateral legal framework."

The text asks this same commission to “formulate appropriate recommendations” at the next session, scheduled for 2026.

Unclos considers, in particular, the seabed on the high seas as the “common heritage of humanity,” which is why no company or State can unilaterally appropriate it.

If Nori's exploration contract is not renewed, it could theoretically be awarded to another entity, which would create even more confusion if TMC were granted the right to explore part of this area under U.S. law, analysts note.

The Council was due to conclude its talks on Friday after two additional weeks of negotiations, but after a delegate fell ill and required emergency services to attend to the session, the session was suspended late in the afternoon and its conclusion was postponed until next Monday.

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