Why the Rush for Seabed Mining

Why the Rush: Seabed Mining in the Pacific Ocean

In 2019, in collaboration with London Mining Network and MiningWatch Canada, the DSMC produced a hard-hitting report Why the Rush: Seabed Mining in the Pacific Ocean. Focusing on the companies driving the speculative rush for DSM the report exposed the unholy alliance with the very UN body charged with regulating them, the International Seabed Authority (ISA).

It revealed how a few first-mover companies had partnered with select Pacific island governments to obtain prospecting tenements for the ocean floor, leveraging tenements to raise hundreds of millions of dollars in speculative capital.

This rush sparked the interest of bigger players, including UN agencies, state actors, the European Union, multinational mining companies, and even a global military and defence company.