Metals Company CEO Says Seafloor Mining Cuts Impacts to a Fraction of Land Mining
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Sep 23
Metals Company CEO Says Seafloor Mining Cuts Impacts to a Fraction of Land Mining
3 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Sep 23
Summary
Gerard Barron said commercial seabed mining would cause only a “fraction” of the environmental damage of land mining for nickel and cobalt, making his case at a New York Times climate event.
Barron argued current metal supplies come from more harmful operations, pointing to exploitative cobalt mining in Congo and poorly regulated nickel mining in Indonesia.
The pitch has not eased concern over deep-ocean ecosystems, where scientists still know little about how industrial scraping of nodule-rich seabeds could affect marine life.
Trump has made deep-sea mining a second-term priority, and the Metals Company has already applied for U.S. approvals to mine the Clarion-Clipperton Zone in the Pacific.
That U.S. push is colliding with international opposition as the 171-member International Seabed Authority races to finish a mining rulebook by year-end.
Could the mysterious discovery of deep-sea dark oxygen completely derail the corporate rush to harvest battery metals from the ocean floor?
If companies successfully bypass international treaties to mine the Pacific, will this trigger a lawless global gold rush for underwater critical minerals?