According to Bloomberg News, the United States issued a statement on December 19, unilaterally announcing itExpand claims to the outer continental shelf (ECS) of the Arctic and large areas of the Bering Sea。It is reported that the area of the continental shelf claimed by the United States is becoming increasingly strategically important, with a total area of about 1 million square kilometersIt contains abundant mineral resources。Under international law, States have economic rights over natural resources on and off the seabed based on the boundaries of their continental shelves.
At a time when the world is ramping up efforts to protect minerals that are critical to future technologies, the United States is undoubtedly full of "coveting" rights to exploit potentially resource-rich seabeds. This also reminds many countries that the competition for mineral resources is gradually moving towards the deep sea.
The latest assessment by the US Geological Survey in 2008 estimated that there are about 90 billion barrels of undiscovered oil and more than 47 trillion cubic meters of natural gas in the Arctic Circle, as well as critical metals needed for electrification. James Kraska, chairman of international maritime law at the U.S. Naval War College, wrote in a recent article that the U.S. continental shelf contains 50 hard minerals, including lithium and tellurium, as well as 16 rare earth elements.
However, this estimate is mostly based on land-based studies, and offshore potential remains largely unexplored.
In recent years, with the development of the new energy industry, the demand for key minerals such as lithium, nickel and cobalt has been increasing, and the contradiction between supply and demand of onshore resources has become prominent.
In the 60s of the 20th century, the American geologist John Mero (John Mero), in his book "Mineral Resources of the Seabed", argued:The seabed will be a major source of global mineral demand。In 1963, at the suggestion of Li Siguang, then Minister of Geology, the Institute of Marine Geological Sciences was established, specializing in marine geological survey, offshore oil geophysical prospecting, and coastal geological survey, which opened a precedent for China's marine geology.
In 1970, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Declaration of Principles Concerning the Seabed and Ocean Floor Beyond the Limits of National Jurisdiction and the Subsoil Thereof, which stated that the seabed should be preservedExclusively for peaceUse. In 1994, the United Nations International Seabed Authority (ISA) was formally established with the main function of regulating the exploration and exploitation of minerals from the deep seabed in the "Area" (the seabed and its subsoil beyond the limits of national jurisdiction) in accordance with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
Due to factors such as immature deep-sea mining technology and sufficient onshore mineral resources, countries have not carried out large-scale deep-sea mining activities.
At present, the exploration work carried out by various countries is mainly focused on three deep-sea mineral resources:
Polymetallic nodules on the deep seabed, including manganese, iron, copper, nickel, cobalt, lead, zinc and a small amount***
Polymetallic sulphides (i.e., "deep-sea massive sulphides") formed in the vicinity of hydrothermal vents, rich in copper, iron, zinc, silver and gold;
Cobalt-rich crusts covering the slopes and tops of seamounts on the ocean floor contain iron, manganese, nickel, cobalt, copper and a variety of rare metals including rare earth elements.
Countries such as the United States, Japan, Norway, and the United Kingdom, as well as international mining companies such as The Metals Company (TMC), are actively engaged in deep-sea mineral exploration and environmental assessment.
In August 2022, Japan's Marine Earth Science and Technology Agency successfully tested seabed mining technology off the coast of Ibaraki Prefecture, and its deep-sea drillship "Chikyu" is capable of extending pipelines to a depth of 2,470 meters to the seabed and pumping about 70 tons of mud per day for screening. Japan** plans to mine rare earth-rich mud in the seabed near the Ogasawara Islands and Minamitorishima Island at a depth of 6,000 meters in search of rare earth elements, and plans to start exploration work within 5 years.
In March 2023, Canadian Metals released the results of a life cycle assessment of the environmental impacts of its Nori-D polymetallic nodule project in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone, which concluded that seabed cobalt-nickel mining technology can significantly reduce environmental impact compared to existing technical routes for onshore cobalt-nickel mining. In November 2023, the company said it would send a team back to Nori-D to conduct environmental studies to assess the impact of seabed polymetallic nodule collection experiments on seabed ecosystems, with an application for a commercial mining licence to be submitted to the International Seabed Authority in 2024 and production to begin in 2025.
At present, deep-sea mining is still in its early stages, and the commercialization and large-scale exploitation of seabed minerals has not yet been realized. However, the lag of technology does not affect the "horse race" of the relevant countries. So far, the International Seabed Authority has not issued any deep-sea mining licenses to any agency, but it has issued more than 30 deep-sea resource exploration contracts for more than 10 countries, including Russia, South Korea, the United Kingdom, Japan, China, India and Nauru.
Since the International Seabed Authority does not have mandatory binding force on the mining activities of various countries, the "competition" for the seabed area by countries is becoming increasingly fierce, and deep-sea mineral resources will become a new "battlefield" in the competition for resources of various countries in the future.