As global demand for critical minerals intensifies,
interest in deep sea mining is accelerating. For companies
navigating the energy transition or operating across advanced
manufacturing or technology supply chains, the ocean floor may
represent a new frontier, and a matter of strategic
consideration.
At the same time, deep sea mining is replete with complexity and
subject to a quickly evolving set of legal, commercial and
regulatory considerations that contractors and investors should
keep in mind.
What is deep sea mining?
The seabed contains high concentrations of critical minerals
including copper, cobalt, nickel, manganese and rare earth
elements. Some estimates have put the amount of copper to be found
in nodules sitting on the seabed of the Pacific equal to all known
land-based copper deposits. These critical minerals are essential
to batteries, renewable infrastructure and defence applications. In
fact, batteries and renewable infrastructure often
