Deep sea-mining will delay due to COVID, rules set to miss 2023 deadline

Caribbean: Regulations governing deep-sea mining will take prolonged to perform due to the global pandemic, a collection of Latin American and Caribbean countries stated, creating risk for companies seeking to extract metals from batteries on the seabed.

The slowed negotiations also pose a latent difficulty for businesses seeking investor funding to exploit the seabed.

The UN's International Seabed Authority (ISA) is acting on global rules comprising seabed mining, which is not permitted until the regulations are finalized.

The tiny Pacific state of Nauru has decided to speed up the process by activating a two-year deadline in June for the rules to be finalized. Nauru is a state sponsor of the mining company The Metals Co (TMC.O), a subsidiary of Nauru Ocean Resources Inc (NORI). On behalf of a group of Latin American and Caribbean nations, Costa Rica stated that "no tangible progress has been made" toward the adoption of regulations and guidelines for mining, in a presentation dated October 13 and published in the ISA website on Thursday.

The letter said that the ISA Council may not be able to settle and adopt the needed regulations within the two years, replying that delegations are far from leading agreement on critical issues.

The countries represented in the presentation were Argentina, Bahamas, Chile, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Guyana, Jamaica, Panama and Trinidad and Tobago.

An ISA spokesperson said the body had no comment to make on Costa Rica's letter, but told the ISA's Legal and Technical Commission prepared 10 draft standards and guidelines through online meetings in 2020 and 2021, and that have been submitted for public consultation during three months.

A group of African nations also criticized the acceleration of negotiations in July, saying the task of agreeing on regulations by mid-2023 is "seemingly insurmountable."

Deep-sea mining involves the aspiration of potato-sized rocks rich in cobalt, nickel, and other metals from the bottom battery of the Pacific Ocean at depths of 4 to 6 kilometres.

Many scientists and environmentalists have asked for a ban on deep-sea mining, declaring it could cause lasting damage to little-known habitats.

Companies like automaker BMW (BMWG.DE) and Alphabet Inc's Google (GOOGL.O) have joined the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) request for a moratorium on the practice.

In September, the ISA said that the ISA Council and ISA Assembly meetings would be held at its headquarters in Kingston, Jamaica, from December 6 to 10 and December 13 to 15, but with restrictions on the size of the delegation due to COVID-19.

Chile and two environmental groups have requested that the meetings be postponed due to delegations restrictions.

Jamaica's COVID-19 protocols include a quarantine period even for vaccinated travellers and a limit of 50 people at meetings, making it difficult for representatives from around the world to attend.