A Chinese deep-sea mining vehicle during a test run in the Pacific Ocean in July 2024
Credit: Shanghai Jiao Tong University/Handout via Xinhua/Alamy
Mining companies hope that 2025 will be the year when they finally start harvesting valuable minerals from the ocean floor.
For more than two decades, the International Seabed Authority (ISA), the UN-affiliated body responsible for regulating deep-sea mining in international waters, has done so. could not complete a code to collect minerals found at the bottom of the ocean. As negotiations remain deadlocked, the impasse could see states move forward without a global agreement.
