Deep Sea Mining - 2023 Review

2023 has been an exciting and interesting year for deep sea mining - here's our review of the top news and occurrences:

Norway Announces Deep Sea Mining Regulations

Norway announced plans in December 2023 to open their exclusive economic zone up for deep sea mining.

Norway has a significant and mature offshore oil and gas industry, which has helped it generate the world's largest Sovereign Wealth Fund. Declining oil revenues have prompted the government to look for other subsea resources.

Transocean Enters the Industry

Transocean, the world's largest deepwater drilling platform operator, became the latest major player in deep sea mining via a joint venture with GSR-DEME. The deal included the transfer of the Ocean Rig Olympia deepwater drillship.

The Metals Company Releases Positive Collector Test Results, Despite Greenpeace

The Metals Company released positive results from their 2022 / 2023 collector tests, indicating that sediment plumes had minimal impact on the water column and were not transported long distance.

Greenpeace protestors briefly interrupted the research vessel's activities.

China Continued Aggressive Posturing

China's aggressive positioning around critical minerals and rare earth elements continued. China currently holds 6 exploration licenses from the ISA in 3 different mineral types via 3 deep sea mining companies.

The aggressive posturing continued in later 2023, when China announced further restrictions to the export of rare earth element technologies.

Loke Acquired UKSR

Loke (a Norwegian deep sea mining company) acquired UKSR's license blocks in the CCZ.

Whilst this represents a bold move for the Norwegian company, it also speaks to the further withdrawal of the US and UK from deep sea mining.

Ongoing ISA Uncertainty

The International Seabed Authority missed their July 9th 2023 deadline to enact regulations for deep sea mining, which had been triggered by the state of Nauru in 2021.

Subsea mining companies can hypothetically submit applications for mining, but practically are unlikely to take such a step in the short-term.

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