Canada’s The Mining Company (TMC) said Tuesday it will apply to the International Seabed Authority (ISA) for a deep sea mining licence after the ISA Council meeting in July next year, and expects to begin operations in an area more than twice as big as initially planned in Q4 2025.
The recently finalised ISA negotiations in Jamaica ended without a clear decision on how the world will move forward on deep sea mining in international waters, including agreeing on a Mining Code for how operations should be carried out.
Technically that means that TMC, sponsored by Nauru, could submit an application for a licence immediately, which the ISA then would be legally required to consider.
However, in a press release issued Wednesday, the company said that it would hold off the application on behalf of its subsidiary Nauru Ocean Resources Inc. (NORI) until after next year’s ISA meeting, hoping the Mining Code would be settled then.
“While we were pleased to see the high level of motivation and collaboration among the ISA members who made significant progress in Kingston last month, it is clear the parties need more time to fulfill their legal obligation of delivering the Mining Code,” Gerard Barron, TMC CEO and chairman, said.
“After carefully listening during the last three weeks of ISA meetings, NORI now intends to submit an application following the July 2024 ISA session, which gives us more time to strengthen our environmental dataset while providing time for three more Council sessions and intersessional work.”
The company is among the biggest advocates for opening up the seabed to mining, as it is seeking to secure metals required for lower-impact batteries.
However, the scientific community and over 20 national governments have warned against initiating mining on the deep sea until more is known about the impact it might have on seabed ecosystems and marine biodiversity.
A group of more than 30 major investors have also come out against proceeding at this stage.
TMC, meanwhile, carried out trials in 2022, lifting 3,000 tonnes of nodules from the seabed to the surface, an event it said was successful.
The company on Tuesday said it will aim for a production capacity of 3 million tonnes per year for its project, compared to just 1.2 mln in its original plans.
That would include an additional 15-metre wide collector vehicle, a wider diameter riser pipe, larger compressor spread, and improvements to the system designed to mitigate environmental impacts, it said.
It estimated that it would need $60-70 mln in additional cash to submit the application in a year’s time.
Currently, TMC has $20 mln at hand, while its strategic partner Allseas has agreed to extend an unsecured credit facility for $25 mln to Nov. 30, 2024.
The Canadian miner also said it will continue its work to gather the scientific evidence required to back up its application, and pledged to share that data openly.
By Stian Reklev – stian@carbon-pulse.com
*** Click here to sign up to our weekly biodiversity newsletter ***
