The future of ocean mining… is advancing our understanding of the deep-sea. With commercialisation yet to begin, contractors are making ground-breaking contributions to society’s knowledge of the deepest reaches of our oceans through rigorous environmental impact assessments. DeepGreen is engaged in a collaborative deep-sea discovery programme—from seafloor to surface—that brings together the world’s top minds to baseline the environment.

In advance of this new industry, a world-class regulatory regime has been carefully crafted by the global community since 1994, with the protection of the marine environment a priority. For the first time in history, a major extractive industry is being planned for sustainability, with profits to be shared equitably on principle—not according to political power or capital—as befits this Common Heritage resource.

As sun and wind replace fossil fuels to power a sustainable future, one resource stands out. Polymetallic nodules contain rich concentrations of battery metals: nickel, cobalt, copper and manganese. They can be collected without digging or drilling common for other terrestrial and marine resources and can dramatically compress most—but not all—of the environmental and social impacts of land-based mining.

But being lower impact is not enough. As a two-dimensional resource spread thinly over a wide area, an Adaptive Management System of subsea drones and sensors—currently under development—will allow us to avoid ecologically sensitive areas and monitor our operations in real-time. It is important that the impacts on our global commons can be monitored by all stakeholders and this will provide a window on our operations from anywhere in the world. Though abyssal plains are physically remote, they need not be out of sight, or out of mind.

This future also comes with a clear stop date in mind. The plan is simple: produce better metals to supply the EV transition, while building up enough metal stock to stop extracting from the planet and create a pool of metals that can be recycled and reused for generations to come—a world in which metals are not mined and dumped, but rented and returned.