If governments don’t meet a July 2023 deadline to draw up regulations governing deep-sea mining, companies may start exploiting the seabed without legal restrictions
Environment
31 December 2022
For decades, governments and businesses have had a keen eye on the mineral wealth buried in the deep ocean, but a vacuum in regulations governing seabed mining has kept would-be miners at bay.
That is all set to change in 2023, as governments face a July deadline to agree on regulations governing deep-sea mining – or risk mining companies starting work on the seabed without any rules at all.
Under the UN regulator, the International …