ISA COUNCIL ENDS WITHOUT MINING CODE

ISA Council ends without Mining Code amid industry compliance concerns. Two weeks of International Seabed Authority (ISA) Council negotiations have concluded with no mining approved and no Mining Code adopted. Unresolved issues ranged from environmental safeguards and liability to inspection, compliance, and benefit-sharing. Governments, including France, Costa Rica, South Africa on behalf of the Africa Group, Mexico, Germany, Palau, and Brazil, among others, raised major scientific, environmental, and governance gaps. Several States stressed that these issues must be fully resolved before any mining is considered.

“This meeting once again exposed the scale of the unknowns surrounding deep-sea mining and why a moratorium is the credible way forward,” said Sofia Tsenikli, Deep Sea Conservation Coalition (DSCC) Global Campaign Director. “Pushing ahead regardless is reckless, and risks sacrificing the ocean, and humanity’s common heritage, for short-term commercial interests”.

Member States also supported the ISA’s Legal and Technical Commission’s (LTC) inquiry and preliminary report into contractor non-compliance. The report revealed that an ISA contractor may be in breach of its contract, including its obligations to act in accordance with the multilateral framework under the United Nations Convention on the Law of Sea (UNCLOS). Council members adopted a decision calling on the LTC to continue with the inquiry.

“The ISA’s response to threats of unilateral mining is a critical test for the Authority,” said Emma Wilson, DSCC Policy Lead “Contractors cannot hold exploration contracts under the international system while simultaneously undermining it by seeking to mine unilaterally. If breaches are confirmed, contracts must be terminated.”

The inquiry comes amid concerns surrounding attempts to pursue unilateral deep-sea mining, including questions about the involvement of Nauru Ocean Resources Inc. (NORI), a subsidiary of The Metals Company (TMC). A full LTC report is expected at the July meeting, when NORI’s contract is due for extension.

“The LTC inquiry goes directly to the ISA’s core responsibility to the deep seabed as the common heritage of humankind,” said Duncan Currie, DSCC Legal Advisor. “If companies attempt to bypass the Authority by pursuing mining through a unilateral national process, it would constitute an unauthorized appropriation of the global commons under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.”

Meanwhile, concerns have been raised in countries, such as the Netherlands and Switzerland, that companies and nationals in their jurisdictions might participate in TMC USA operations.

“Deep-sea mining would open vast areas of the ocean floor to large scale and likely irreversible damage,” said Matthew Gianni, DSCC Co-Founder and Political Adviser. “States have clear obligations under international law to protect the marine environment, and must now ensure that their nationals and companies do not engage in unilateral deep-sea mining activities.”

As the Council session concludes, the DSCC calls on governments to adopt a moratorium on deep-sea mining. With 40 countries now supporting a pause, alongside major businesses, financial institutions, human rights experts, Indigenous leaders, scientists, fishing industry associations and civil society organisations, the world is uniting behind the only responsible path forward.

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