After 50 years of optimistic predictions that marine mining will soon take off, it still remains to be seen if and when this will happen. In 2018 the total value of all marine mining, including both offshore mining and the so far non-existing deep-seabed mining, was estimated to be around US$35...

The asymmetric nature of international investment agreements whereby home and host states agree on each other’s obligation to protect their respective investors while the investors undertake few, if any, obligations has resulted in something of a legitimacy crisis. This Perspective proposes a...

After 50 years of optimistic predictions that marine mining will soon take off, it still remains to be seen if and when this will happen. In 2018 the total value of all marine mining, including both offshore mining and the so far non-existing deep-seabed mining, was estimated to be around US$35...

This study explores possible futures of the mining industry through numerical analysis of a conceptual mineral extraction problem with two resource stocks - terrestrial and marine. The model is inspired by the manganese mining industry. We consider four model scenarios. The first two consider a...

Foreign capital has increasingly become involved in the exploration for deep sea minerals in the Area. Foreign-owned companies have received the sponsorship of their state of incorporation, as required by UNCLOS to be granted an exploration contract by the International Seabed Authority....

Four million square kilometers of seabed within the sovereignty of Pacific Island nations are currently under contract for mineral exploration or exploitation. Over a million additional square kilometers of the non-sovereign seafloor are licensed for such use. Historically, these licenses have...

The abyssal plain — the deepest part of the ocean — is littered with polymetallic nodules: lumps of minerals deposited through accretion over the course of millions of years. The existence of these mineral deposits, although not their exact nature, has been known since at least the...