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Arguements for:

Can help boost economy

Expands job market

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UNEP Finance Initiative - Human Rights Guidance Tool for the Financial Sector

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Tool providing information on human rights risks for financial institutions

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Socially Responsible Mining: the Relationship between Mining and Poverty, Human Health and the Environment

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Increasing global demand for metals is straining the ability of the mining industry to physically keep up with demand (physical scarcity). On the other hand, social issues including the environmental and human health consequences of mining as well as…

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The cobalt mining industry is a human rights failure - here’s what needs to be done

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How can a “clean” supply of cobalt from countries like the DRC be secured? Wide-ranging collaboration, regular inspections and an effective judicial system offer part of the answer.

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Destroys the environment

Inhumane working conditions

under/not payed

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1. 3,000 word essay

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2. 1,500-2,000 word essay + additional format

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GENEVA (ILO News) - Small-scale mining is expanding rapidly and often uncontrollably in many developing countries, employing large numbers of women and children in dangerous conditions and generating a workplace fatality rate up to 90 times higher than mines in industrialized countries, says a new report * by the International Labour Office (ILO).

The report, Social and labour issues in small-scale mines, was prepared for a sectoral meeting on small-scale mining which gets underway at the ILO in Geneva on Monday, May 17; it finds that small-scale mining activity in 35 countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America grew by an average of 20 per cent in the last five years, and that authorities in most of the countries surveyed expected these levels of growth to continue.

"One reason why such employment is so dangerous is that as much as 80 per cent of small-scale mining falls outside any legal or regulatory framework," says Norman Jennings, the ILO industrial specialist who prepared the report.

The report notes that while many countries seek to discourage or suppress small-scale mining as dirty, dangerous and damaging, these efforts risk foundering on the hard bedrock of economic necessity. For impoverished communities, "mining holds out a promise of cash earnings, with the additional prospect that - a bit like holding a lottery ticket - there could be a large windfall sometime in the future as long as one remains in the game." This reinforces the vicious circle of appalling working conditions, significant environmental damage and poverty in communities whose survival depends upon small-scale mining.

Jennings said that policies are needed to put small-scale mining on a stable footing so that it can provide decent work for the millions of workers and entrepreneurs involved, adding that there are many safe, productive and successful small-scale mines in operation.

Work in small-scale mines tends to be low-paid, seasonal and highly precarious, but provides direct employment, though often at a subsistence level, for up to 13 million workers whose labour generates an estimated 15-20 per cent of world production of precious metals, gems, building materials and (mostly) non-fuel minerals, according to the ILO survey.

As many as 80-100 million people worldwide depend for their livelihoods on the often scant proceeds of small-scale mining, roughly the same amount as for the more visible, large-scale mining sector, but most small-scale miners gain a very meagre living, some selling as little as US$1 worth of gold at a time. Less than 10 per cent of the workforce in small-scale mines are likely to have any formal training skills.

In spite of the difficulties, the economic and social impact of small-scale mining is far from small, particularly in high-value product areas such as gold, silver, diamonds or gemstones. The report notes that small-scale mines account for as much as 80 to 100 per cent of gold, diamond or gemstone production in Burkina Faso, Cuba, Guyana, Mozambique, Myanmar and Niger and more than 50 per cent in Bolivia, Mexico, the Philippines and Tanzania. Depending on the size of deposits, the economic significance of small-scale mining can be considerable, particularly for communities lacking any alternative sources of employment or income:

"At a national level, the export of high-value metals and minerals from small-scale mines can make a major contribution to foreign exchange earnings. Gold and gemstones worth US$1 billion a year are estimated to be produced in sub-Saharan Africa. In China, gold production from small-scale mining is currently worth about US$200 million a year; in Bolivia and Brazil about US$180 million (much less than in the heydays of the garimpeiros (gold prospectors) in the late 1980s); US$140 million in Indonesia and about US$250 million in Peru.

While economies of scale usually limit the production of industrial minerals (such as copper, iron ore, manganese, lead and coal) to highly mechanized, large-scale mines, the report notes that in countries where local and domestic demand exists, these products are often mined on a small-scale.

Health and Safety Risks

While it is impossible to say how many deaths and accidents occur in small-scale mines, due to under-reporting and the clandestine nature of much of the work, the risks of fatal and disabling accidents are high, particularly in underground coal mines.

"The three countries with the highest number of small-scale underground coal mines ( China, India and Pakistan) have significantly higher numbers of fatal accidents, even when the size of the workforce is taken into account, than is the case in other sorts of mines," the report says.

"In China more than 6,000 fatalities are estimated to occur in small-scale mines each year. In Hunan Province, where 25 million tons of coal a year are produced in 5,220 small-scale mines employing 200,000 workers, there were 232 deaths in 1997; 70 per cent of these deaths were due to gas or coal dust explosions." The fatality rate of 9.1 death per million tons of coal is 90 times higher than the industrial country average of 0.1. In some regions, the death toll is even higher, as, for example, in Balochistan, a province in Pakistan where, in 1998, 64 miners lost their lives in mines producing 1.6 million tons of coal, a fatality rate of 40 workers per million tons.

In these and many other countries, disasters exact a high toll in miners' lives. In 1998 a mudslide in Colombia killed 100 gemstone miners; flooding in Tanzania killed more than 100 miners in 1997 and about 70 in 1998. In China in 1996, more than 400 coal miners died in three separate gas explosions; in 1997, 86 died in one explosion, and in 1998, more than 30 died in explosions.

In Bolivia, where cooperatives of 4,000 small-scale miners exploit a closed tin mine, as many as 3 fatalities and 15 serious injuries occur each month, equivalent to almost 1 per cent of the workforce being killed each year. A similar situation prevails in Zimbabwe, which has a reputation for a disproportionately high number of fatalities, "mainly caused by miners re-entering closed mines to illegally win gold from pillars and from alluvial miners burrowing into uncompacted river banks."

In all too many cases, human and financial factors contribute to deaths and injuries: "Inadequate, inappropriate or unsafe equipment are real problems in many small-scale mines." Cave-ins from unsupported tunnels, rock falls, perpetual dampness, inadequate ventilation, faulty equipment, exhaustion and constant exposure to heat, noise and dust also take a toll on miners health and safety. The frequent anarchy prevailing in the often gold rush conditions of many small-scale mines sites means that health and safety considerations are often ignored.

The dangers of mining accidents, however real, are not nearly so acute as the health hazards and sickness found in mining communities, which are commonly overcrowded, consisting often of makeshift huts with inadequate facilities for sanitation and water. Processing of raw minerals is often done in the home and water sources that might be used to treat minerals may also serve as the domestic water supply. Silicosis from exposure to dust and mercury poisoning are occupational hazards of miners, which extend to the entire community, including the wives and children of miners. In Ghana, women and children as young as 14 have been diagnosed with advanced stages of silicosis from grinding gold-bearing ore at home. But the almost total lack of access to health care makes it impossible to gauge the extent of occupational diseases, especially silicosis and mercury poisoning.

Women and child miners

The ILO report estimates that as many as 4 million of the world's 13 million small-scale miners are female, though many work part-time. In Asia the proportion of women workers is less than 10 per cent with most of their activities limited to sorting, packaging and preparation of materials for shipping.

In Latin America the proportion is somewhat higher, with women accounting for anywhere from 10-20 per cent of the workforce. In Africa the participation of women is even higher, reaching 60 per cent in some mining areas.

Women in Africa are actively involved in processing of raw materials, including crushing, grinding, sieving, washing and transporting of minerals. In some mining centres, these activities are even dominated by women who undertake these activities in the home, exposing entire families to high risks from silicosis and mercury poisoning. Although women rarely work underground, they can be found panning for gold or raking the surface of deposits in search of small amounts of raw material.

In Latin America women undertake similar activities and women and children can often be found scavenging for ore and gemstones. As many as 8,000 women work in the gold mining areas north of La Paz, Bolivia in particularly harsh conditions. These women, called palliris, collect and sort mine waste from processing plants, which they sell to intermediaries, take to processing plants or wash themselves to extract small amounts of metal. Some women work in alluvial pits up to 20 metres deep extracting metal-bearing sand with picks and shovels. Their wages are low and often their work is unpaid, done simply to enhance the earning capacity of their husbands.

It is estimated that hundreds of thousands of children work in small-scale mines, often in intolerable conditions. The hazards they face - from inundation, cave-ins, tuberculosis, dust, mercury and other chemicals - are the same as those faced by adults, but the risks to immature bodies are much more severe.

In mines and quarries around the world, small children can be seen scavenging for materials, breaking rocks with hammers, washing ore, sieving it or transporting it. Children as young as 9 are used to set explosives, fill sacks with ore, transport them on their backs and load them into carts. At or around the age of 12, the presence of children in underground mines tends to increase and many begin to do the same work as adults. Most often, children's work in mining is undertaken simply to enhance family earnings or to earn just enough food to live.

In some cases their small size increases risk, for example, in a gold rush, where competition to find a vein of ore is frantic, children need smaller tunnels than adults. But the risks in such conditions are extremely high due to the haphazard nature of the workings and the lack of regard for basic safety precautions.

Examples of child labour in small-scale mining are abundant. In Guinea, boys of 14 to 16 years of age work in diamond mines, usually at very low pay, digging gravel in trenches, removing water with buckets and diverting streams and rivers using sandbags. Surveys undertaken by the ILO in Madagascar and Burkina Faso found hundreds of child labourers in small-scale mines and quarries, many working as much as 10 hours per day alongside their impoverished family members.

In Niger, it is estimated that as many as 250,000 children work full-time or part-time in small-scale mining that is carried out at a subsistence level. Many of the children are descendants of slaves who work in trona production (a product used in cattle feed) under conditions of dire poverty. Other mined products include salt, gypsum, gold and construction materials.

In the Mollehuaca region of Peru, children working underground are exposed to very harsh conditions, doing much the same work as adults in 12-hour shifts. Many children work in stone mills. Levels of mercury contamination are high and adults and children alike suffer from respiratory and other mine-related illnesses.

In the Philippines, children in the Sibutad region work carrying ore in 28 kg sacks (62 lbs.) from gold mines to processing centres; others are involved in ore processing, exposing them to mercury contamination; some work underground carrying food or water to the miners.

At the Mererani mining sight in Tanzania, agile youngsters aged 12-15 work as so-called "snake boys" fetching and carrying materials in and out of underground mines, scavenging for small gemstones, placing explosives in confined places and running errands for adult miners. Their small size allows them to reach places inaccessible adults and to operate at higher speed, but the heavy loads, cramped conditions and unhealthy, to awkward working conditions take a heavy toll on the development of snake boys.

A sector in need of support

The report says, that like most economic activities, "small-scale mining has positive and negative aspects. It is closely linked to economic development, particularly in the rural sector in many developing countries; it helps to stem rural-urban migration, maintaining the link between people and the land; it makes a major contribution to foreign exchange earnings; it enables the exploitation of what otherwise might be uneconomic resources; and it has been a precursor to large-scale mining."

The report maintains that "small-scale mining can and should be encouraged by creating the operating environment that encourages the use of best practices for mining and occupational health and safety and environmental protection."

The report urges consideration of the following steps: "Ensuring that title and property rights over minerals are straightforward to acquire and transfer; that access to finance for small-scale mining is on equal terms with other sectors; that labour and social issues are addressed and the working and living conditions of small-scale miners and their communities are improved; that the environmental impact of small-scale mining is minimized; and that small-scale miners have the necessary technical and business skills to ensure the safe and efficient operation of their mines."

It says that "success on these fronts could assure the existence of small-scale mining as a socially and economically beneficial activity that enriches the entrepreneurs and workers involved, together with the regions in which it takes place."

*Social and labour issues in small-scale mines. Report for discussion at the Tripartite Meeting on Social and Labour Issues in Small-scale Mines. International Labour Office, Geneva, 1999. ISBN 92-2-111480-5. Price: 17.50 Swiss francs.

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Small-scale mining on the increase in developing countries

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GENEVA (ILO News) - Small-scale mining is expanding rapidly and often uncontrollably in many developing countries, employing large numbers of women and children in dangerous conditions and generating a workplace fatality rate up to 90 times higher than mines in industrialized countries, says a new report * by the International Labour Office (ILO).

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In a world driven by consumerism where the majority of products fail to be recycled, mining remains essential for providing resources to help economies grow and improve standards of living. However, is this causing us to dig ourselves a growing hole of environmental issues? We examine the biggest environmental problems caused by mining. -
The mining and processing of minerals provides us with the building blocks required to form much of the infrastructure needed to support modern societies. In 2020, the top 40 mining companies had together accumulated a total revenue of USD$544 billion, which was up 4% on the previous year. Whilst demand for some resources such as coal is falling, other resources such as copper are seeing increasing demand as new products and technologies require different materials. For example, a single lithium-ion electric vehicle battery pack (a type known as NMC111) uses around 16kg of lithium, 46kg of nickel, 46kg of cobalt and 43kg of manganese.
Source: PwC
However, the process of mining remains intense and invasive, and operations often leave large environmental impacts on the local surroundings as well as having wider implications for the environmental health of the planet.

Water Use in Mining

Mining and mineral processing operations often have high water footprints as many stages require the use of water. Examples include dust mitigation, removing soluble particles, sieving and separation processes, and in creating tailings dams for waste management. Although some stages, such as the separation of minerals, can reuse and recycle the water, other stages such as spraying to remove airborne dust will lead to pollution of the water, preventing water from being recycled. High water use in mining operations can lead to reduced access for local people to uncontaminated freshwater supplies and can result in a local area suffering from water stress.

However, compared to other industries, mining has a relatively small water usage and often a large fraction of the water used is saline so does not have much use in other industries or domestically. For example, the US has one of the highest rates of mineral production in the world after China and Australia; however, the water used for mining only makes up about 1% of the total national water use with 47% of this water being low quality saline water.
Chart showing water use from different sectors in the US in 2015. Source: USGS
Mining Pollution

There have been many documented instances of environmental pollution caused by mining operations, which are often caused by leakages of mining tailings. Mining tailings are the materials left behind after the economically valuable fraction of material has been extracted. These materials are often stored in large tailings dams to prevent environmental damage as tailings are often radioactive, toxic or acidic. Tailings consist of valuable substances used in the extraction process such as cyanide, mercury or arsenic; therefore, modern mining programmes often aim to remove these harmful but valuable chemicals to reuse for further mineral separation. In addition to improving efficiency and cutting costs, this minimises the risk of environmental damage by reducing the toxicity of the tailings.

As a result of strict international regulations, pollution caused by mining has been dramatically reduced; however, it is still an ongoing problem in many developing countries where illegal small-scale operations known as 'artisanal mining' occur. These low-tech, subsistence mining operations are often unsafe, and the poor management of sites leads to environmental pollution in the region. The problems associated with artisanal mining remain complex as it is difficult to identify and shut down all of these small operations. Furthermore, although artisanal mining can result in dangerous environmental pollution, it does help to alleviate the estimated 40 million people who participate in this industry from poverty.
Source:Wikimedia Commons
How Does Mining Impact the Land?

Another key environmental problem associated with mining projects is the land use change that occurs, not only from drilling and excavating open pit mines but also the changes that occur as result of the development of surrounding infrastructure. The latter can include camps to provide accommodation for the miners as well as the railways and roads needed to transport the mined materials. The infrastructure created by mining operations in remote, untouched landscapes can lead to improved access to these regions which may result in further human-caused disturbance to the local ecological systems.

The impact of mining operations on the surrounding land is also closely linked to the ecological setting of the mining sites. For example, the deforestation of primary forests caused by mining for iron ore in the tropical rainforests of Gabon is likely to leave more devastating and longer term ecological damage compared to mining iron ore in the deserts of northern Australia.
A village was set up to support 15,000 miners working in the ruby mine near Ambatondrazaka, Madagascar. Source: Pardieu et al. (2017) .
However, compared to many other industries such as agriculture, mining uses relatively small pockets of land, and the future of mining could move to using techniques that are arguably even less invasive on the environment by using less land and emitting less pollution. Methods could include underground mining where ore is extracted below the surface with little waste and minimal ecological scarring of the Earth's surface; phytomining where plants accumulate high concentrations of metals which can then be processed; or even asteroid mining where materials from asteroids could be harvested for their use on Earth.
Diagram showing the life cycle of a product made from mined resources where each stage contributes towards the product's total carbon footprint.
Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Mining

It is also important to consider the impact of land use change in the context of greenhouse gas emissions. The destruction of vegetation and soils when land is cleared for mining results in the release of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. Another important consideration relates to the quantity of greenhouse gases released per unit mass of mined material, as some less concentrated mineral deposits require proportionally higher energy usage. For example, mining a kilogram of diamond produces around 800,000 kg CO 2 e compared to a kilogram of a highly abundant mineral such as iron which produces only about 2 kg CO 2 e .

The creation of products from mined materials uses high amounts of energy throughout the different stages of the production chain and most of this energy is currently sourced from the burning of fossil fuels.

Reducing reliance on fossil fuels in the mining process by electrifying the technology and running it off a green energy grid is a key aim to allow mining to continue along a more sustainable path. Automation of many of the stages of mining is also another vital change that will not only improve safety but also increase efficiency and cut energy costs. However, it will remain difficult to swiftly transition the mining industry into becoming a net zero emitter, and with the short supply of many rare earth metals, it is crucial to reuse and recycle mined materials wherever possible.
You might also like: We Can Save the World with Public Transportation and Not Electric Cars
Looking Ahead

Overall, when considering the environmental ramifications of mining, it is important to weigh up the social and environmental damages caused by extracting the minerals against the benefits gained from the use of the final product. As consumers, it is important that we are aware that our personal decisions to purchase new products containing finite mined materials are associated with high water use, land use, pollution, and the release of greenhouse gases.

Mining of further resources is required to support the growing global population and allow for the creation of green infrastructure and renewable energy generation. It is vital that governments and companies continue to innovate to create clean mining technologies with strict environmental regulations which will enable the mining industry to pave the way for a sustainable and hopeful future.

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The Environmental Problems Caused by Mining | Earth.Org

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In a world driven by consumerism where the majority of products fail to be recycled, mining remains essential for providing resources to help economies grow and improve standards [...]

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For decades, sourcing rare earth metals from developing countries, whos lands are largely unharmed from commercial mining, has been growing in popularity as resources dwindle. In doing this, companies are allowed to efficiently continue to push products to the consumer market that include theses rare metals, as well as keeping skilled occupations in a dwindling job market. However, the impact of commercial mining on these countries can be detrimental, especially without developed infrastructure and economies to support them.

Should harvesting rare earth metals from developing countries be a common practice?

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Further development of topic to consider 

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Further development of topic to consider 

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Impacts of deep sea mining on local ecosystems.

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In the race to cut greenhouse gas emissions and rein in climate change, demand for critical minerals is surging. Materials such as lithium, cobalt and graphite are essential components of EV batteries, wind turbines, solar panels and other low-carbon technologies increasingly powering the world's energy systems. Mining for these materials on land is already underway, but with demand surging, some are now looking to tap the seafloor for its millions of square kilometers of metal ores.

Indeed, some nations are already applying to the UN's International Seabed Authority (ISA) for permits to explore deep-sea mining in international waters, where the bulk of the ocean's critical minerals are found. But despite years of research, little is still known about the deep ocean. Many fear that extracting minerals from it could pose grave consequences for both marine life and planetary health.

After failing to reach an agreement in July 2023, the ISA now has until 2025 to finalize regulations that will dictate whether and how countries could pursue deep-sea mining in international waters. Formal discussions about its potential environmental impacts will kick off in 2024 and could help inform ISA's decision. What will happen in the meantime remains unclear.

With the future of deep-sea mining still under debate, here's what we know so far about the proposed practice and its impacts - and what we don't:

1) What Is Deep-sea Mining and How Would It Be Done?

Deep-sea mining aims to retrieve valuable mineral deposits found on the ocean's floor, hundreds or even thousands of meters below its surface. Alongside a diverse array of marine life at these depths are significant reserves of copper, cobalt, nickel, zinc, silver, gold and rare earth elements - materials that are essential to building zero-carbon energy components and other technologies but can be difficult to source.

In the deep sea, these minerals are contained within slow-forming, potato-sized polymetallic nodules, as well as in polymetallic sulphides (large deposits made up of sulphur compounds and other metals that form around hydrothermal vents) and metal-rich crusts on underwater mountains (seamounts). While there has been commercial interest in these minerals for decades, recent advancements in technology have made it possible to mine these areas by sending vehicles down to harvest mineral deposits from the seafloor.

In the case of polymetallic nodules - which are currently the primary focus for deep-sea mining - mining vehicles would collect mineral deposits from the surface of the seabed, not unlike a tractor plowing a field, along with the top layers of sediment. The materials collected would then be piped up to a surface vessel for processing, and any waste, such as sediments and other organic materials, would be pumped back into the water column.

2) What's the Current Status of Deep-sea Mining?

While exploratory mining to test equipment has occurred at a small scale, deep-sea mining has not yet been undertaken commercially. But some national governments and mining companies plan to begin as soon as possible, which could be within the next few years. What happens next will largely hinge on the ISA and how it decides to regulate deep-sea mining.

In 2021, the Pacific Island nation of Nauru notified the ISA of its plans to begin mining in international waters, triggering a contentious provision in the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) known as the "two-year rule." The rule requires that, starting two years after the date of this notification, the ISA must "consider" and "provisionally approve" applications to mine - regardless of whether a final set of regulations has been agreed on. The two-year period elapsed in July 2023 and ISA's ensuing meeting ended with no final rule in place. Now, its Council is working with a view to adopt regulations by 2025.

The ISA Assembly (comprised of all 168 members) will meet in 2024 and will likely discuss the potential impacts of seabed mining on the marine environment for the first time. Some hope these discussions will lead to a "precautionary pause" on mining activities while further research is conducted, although whether this will occur - and what could happen in the meantime - remains unclear.

While the ISA has two more years to establish a code for international waters, countries could still go ahead with deep-sea mining projects in their own domestically controlled waters, known as "exclusive economic zones" (EEZs).

In January 2024, Norway initiated a process to open its own waters for exploration of deep-sea mineral resources, likely starting in the early 2030s. Other countries may follow suit, though in practice, many will be constrained by a lack of available funding and technical ability. There is also a great diversity of opinion on seabed mining among nation states. Some, such as Norway and Nauru, are leading the charge for exploration and extraction; others, such as Germany and Canada, as well as the European Parliament, have called for national and regional moratoria.

In addition, the bulk of the most attractive mineral deposits are found not in countries' EEZs but on vast seafloor abyssal plains in international waters. One area of particular interest is the Clarion-Clipperton Zone in the Pacific Ocean. This mineral-rich region already hosts exploration contracts for 17 deep-sea mining contractors, with their combined exploration areas covering approximately 1 million square kilometers (about the same area as Ethiopia).

3) What Are the Potential Benefits of Deep-sea Mining?

Proponents of deep-sea mining argue that it can help meet the world's pressing need for critical minerals, which will likely only continue to grow as countries scale their decarbonization efforts. Estimates suggest that global demand for some such minerals could rise by as much as 400%-600% in the coming decades as the world increases its reliance on wind and solar power, electric vehicles, batteries and other zero-carbon technologies. Several studies have concluded that there is no shortage of mineral resources on land, but the world still faces significant hurdles in locating viable reserves and quickly scaling up mining and processing operations.

Some also view deep-sea mining as an alternative pathway that can circumvent certain risks associated with mining activities on land. Since extraction activities would occur exclusively at sea, deep-sea mining is unlikely to be associated with environmental hazards such as deforestation and freshwater pollution that can impact communities neighboring mines on land.

Similarly, the difficulty in accessing deep-sea mineral deposits for exploitation means that artisanal (small-scale) mining operations would be impossible and strong regulation of labor conditions may be feasible. This could potentially avoid the human rights abuses associated with some terrestrial mining operations. However, experiences of labor abuse in distant-water fishing operations show this outcome is not guaranteed.

4) What Are the Risks of Deep-sea Mining?

While the deep sea was once thought to be devoid of life - too dark, cold and starved of food for anything to survive - we now know that it is the largest habitable space on the planet and home to a dazzling array of life. To date, tens of thousands of species have been found in the deep ocean, with estimates that there could be millions more. In the Clarion-Clipperton Zone alone, a key area of interest for deep-sea mining, researchers have recently discovered over 5,000 species that were entirely new to science.

With exploration and testing still in the early stages, further research is required to determine the possible ecological impacts of deep-sea mining. But the science to date paints a concerning picture.

Direct harm to marine life: There is a high likelihood that less mobile deep-sea organisms would be killed through direct contact with heavy mining equipment deployed on the seabed, and that organisms would be smothered and suffocated by the sediment plumes these machines are likely to create. Warm mining wastewater could also kill marine life through overheating and poisoning.

Long-term species and ecosystem disruption: Mining activities could impair the feeding and reproduction of deep-sea species through the creation of intense noise and light pollution in a naturally dark and silent environment. For example, the sound pollution from these activities could negatively impact large mega-fauna like whales, posing further risk to populations already strained by climate change and other human activities. Because many deep-sea species are rare, long-lived and slow to reproduce, and because polymetallic nodules (which may take millions of years to develop to a harvestable size) are an important habitat for deep-sea species, scientists are fairly certain that some species would face extinction from habitat removal due to mining, and that these ecosystems would require extremely long time periods to recover, if ever.

Possible impacts on fishing and food security: It's not just the seafloor that's at risk. Under current designs, waste discharge from mining vessels could spread over large distances, potentially kilometers away from the areas being mined. This may pose a threat to open ocean fish and invertebrates which are crucial to international fisheries - such as tuna stocks that help drive the economies of many small island developing states in the Pacific, including Kiribati, Vanuatu and the Marshall Islands. Effects of this mining waste could include suffocation, damaged respiratory and feeding structures, and disrupted visual communication within and amongst species, alongside changes in the oxygen content, pH, temperature and toxicity of seawater. However, more research is needed on the characteristics of the discharge plumes themselves and the tolerance of ocean species to fully understand these impacts.

Economic and social risks: While extraction would occur offshore, the deep-sea mining industry would still need shoreline facilities, whether for processing or transshipment of material. This would require land acquisition and development, which has historically driven habitat loss affecting coastal communities dependent on marine resources the most. And, though the UN has designated high-seas minerals "the common heritage of [hu]mankind" and declared that any mineral extraction should benefit all nations, the current regulatory regime of the ISA appears to promote the flow of mining profits to developed states, or to shareholders of mining companies, rather than being inclusive of developing nations.

Potential climate impacts: The ocean is the world's largest carbon sink, absorbing around 25% of all carbon dioxide emissions. Microscopic organisms play a critical role in this climate-regulating system, helping to sequester carbon in the deep sea and reduce emissions of other planet-warming gases, such as methane, from seabed sediments. The loss of deep-sea biodiversity following mining activity may impact the ocean's carbon cycle and reduce its ability to help mitigate global temperature rise.

5) Is Deep-sea Mining Necessary?

The global supply of critical minerals and rare earth elements must grow in the coming years, and quickly. But there is no easy answer to meeting this need, given the immature state and potential dangers of deep-sea mining and the well-understood harms associated with terrestrial mining. While mineral reserves on land appear sufficient to meet global needs, the world must address how to responsibly scale up mining and processing operations in a way that minimizes environmental and social risks.

Within the next 15-20 years, mineral recycling could become a viable alternative to mining for a large portion of material requirements. The World Bank estimates that if recycling rates for end-of-life batteries increase significantly by 2050, it could decrease the need for newly mined minerals by around one-quarter for copper, nickel and lithium and by about 15% for cobalt. However, in the short term ( by 2030), there will not be enough of these minerals in circulation to make recycling a feasible approach.

Better recycling practices in established waste streams, such as from electronics and electrical equipment, can help alleviate some short-term supply pressure while preparing the secondary supply chain to handle a large volume of end-of-life zero-carbon energy products in the future. There is also a range of research efforts underway to obtain the necessary minerals without mining virgin land, including recovery from coal waste or hard rock mine tailings.

Finally, as battery technologies continue to evolve, it is possible that deep-sea mineral deposits will lose their attraction as alternative technologies not reliant on such minerals become more common. For instance, there is a growing shift away from nickel manganese cobalt oxides (NMC) batteries towards lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries, with LFP batteries gaining significant market share from 2015 to 2022; their key materials, lithium and iron, are not targets of deep-sea mining. Emerging technologies such as sodium-ion batteries also have the potential to alter the EV battery market by replacing lithium and cobalt with cheaper and more abundant options.

With Serious Questions Still Unanswered, What Comes Next?

In developing regulations for deep-sea mining, the ISA and other stakeholders have a rare opportunity to take a breath before taking the plunge. Rather than extracting resources first and addressing the consequences later, this is a chance to step back and consider the environmental and social implications of deep-sea mining before any activity gets underway. Any decision made should be rooted in evidence robust enough to ensure that no serious harm is done to people, nature or the climate.

In order to continue with the possibility of deep-sea mining, key questions and knowledge gaps should be addressed by the ISA, the mining industry, scientists and national governments:

What is the potential magnitude and extent (both in space and time) of deep-sea mining impacts on marine species and environments, and what are the likely ecological consequences?

What are the potential social and economic impacts of deep-sea mining? Is it possible for the industry to be advanced in a way that meets the UNCLOS goal of fostering sustainable economic development, international cooperation and equitable trade growth for all countries?

How can a circular mineral economy be further developed to lessen the need for environmentally intrusive practices? More research must be conducted into land-based and urban mining practices to improve their efficiency, as well as into improving product design to reduce demand for and increase recycling of critical minerals.

What are the possible positive and negative implications of deep-sea mining in achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals, as well as for furthering research into deep-sea environments?

What regulations could be developed to ensure that the financial benefits from deep-sea mining operations, should they occur, are equitably distributed among nations?

Finally, for the exploration of deep-sea mineral resources to continue, regulations should be drafted in full and in transparent collaboration with interested parties and key stakeholders, including ISA members, mining corporations and scientists. These regulations should be backed by science and other forms of knowledge, be enforceable, and offer effective protection for delicate marine environments from the impacts of mining.
This article was originally published in July 2023. It was last updated in February 2024 to reflect developments in national deep-sea mining policy.

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What We Know About Deep-sea Mining - And What We Don't

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Some countries hope to start mining the ocean's floor for valuable critical minerals. But this may pose serious risks for marine life and the planet.

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Deep sea mining could pose significant threats to ocean ecosystems – including in the Arctic. WWF is urging governments to proceed with caution.