The International Seabed Authority, based in Jamaica, launched a two-week conference on the issue Monday, a day after it missed a deadline to approve a set of rules and regulations to govern deep sea mining in international waters.The authority has issued more than 30 exploration licenses but no provisional licenses — so far.
Scientists have said that minerals in the deep sea take millions of years to form, and that mining could unleash noise, light and suffocating dust storms. However, companies have argued that deep sea mining is cheaper and has less of an impact than land mining. On Monday, Canada announced that it supported a moratorium because there is no regulatory framework in place nor a deep understanding of the environmental impacts of deep sea mining.
The 36-member council of the International Seabed Authority is expected to debate the issue on Friday. But it’s unclear when or if it would actually vote on whether to allow mining in deep international waters given sharp divisions over the issue.