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Study shows long-term Pacific Ocean seabed damage from

1979

mining

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Environmental groups urge halt to deep sea mining

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Canada's TMC plans first mining application despite

incomplete

regulations

By David Stanway

SINGAPORE, March 27 (Reuters) - A strip of the Pacific

Ocean seabed that was mined for metals more than 40 years ago

has still not recovered, scientists said late on Wednesday,

adding weight to calls for a moratorium on all deep sea mining

activity during U.N.-led talks this week.

A 2023 expedition to the mineral-rich Clarion Clipperton

Zone by a team of scientists led by Britain's National

Oceanography Centre found that the impacts of a 1979 test mining

experiment were still being felt on the seafloor, a complex

ecosystem hosting hundreds of species.

The collection of small "polymetallic nodules" from an

eight-metre strip of the seabed caused long-term sediment

changes and reduced the populations of many of the larger

organisms living there, though some smaller, more mobile

creatures have recovered, according to the study, published in

Nature journal.

"The evidence provided by this study is critical for

understanding potential long-term impacts," said NOC expedition

leader Daniel Jones. "Although we saw some areas with little or

no recovery, some animal groups were showing the first signs of

recolonisation and repopulation."

Delegations from 36 countries are attending a council

meeting of the U.N.'s International Seabed Authority in

Kingston, Jamaica this week to decide whether mining companies

should be allowed to extract metals like copper or cobalt from

the ocean floor.

As they deliberate over hundreds of proposed amendments to a

256-page draft mining code, environmental groups have called for

mining activities to be halted, a move supported by 32

governments and 63 large companies and financial institutions.

"This latest evidence makes it even more clear why

governments must act now to stop deep sea mining before it ever

starts," said Greenpeace campaigner Louise Casson.

While few expect a final text to be completed by the time

the latest round of talks ends on March 28, Canada's The Metals

Company plans to submit the first formal mining

application in June.

On Friday, delegates will discuss what actions should be

taken if an application to mine is submitted before the

regulations have been completed.

TMC said at a briefing last week that it had a legal right

to submit an application at any time and hoped that the ISA

would bring clarity to the application process.

TMC says the environmental impact of deep sea mining is

significantly smaller than conventional terrestrial mining.

"You just have to move a lot less material to get the same

amount of metal - higher grade means better economics, but also

means lower environmental impacts," said Craig Shesky, TMC's

chief financial officer.