Deep Sea Mining

Introduction

In July 1990, the Secretary-General of the UN undertook informal consultations aimed at achieving universal participation in UNCLOS. Fifteen meetings were convened in the period 1990 to 1994, resulting in major amendments to the seabed mining portion of UNCLOS. In early 1993, the Clinton administration in the US decided to take a more active role in the reform effort, deciding that the merit of actively participating would not be to find an answer to every future question regarding the uses of the oceans, but to create a framework and channel discussions of new issues along lines more acceptable to the industrialized nations.

Discussion

Although the United States had been a leader in the international community's attempt to expand an largely legal structure for the oceans in the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea, deep divisions arose between developing and developed nations over the establishment of an international organization to regulate the exploration of deep sea mining in international waters (Part XI of the Treaty). (Flavin, 2010. 95) These divisions were so deep that the United States and other industrialized countries declined to formally sign the treaty, although endorsing the consensus that had been reached by the conference on other areas covered by the treaty.

On the economic and commercial front, the industrialized nations sought a more market-oriented regime. They objected to provisions for mandatory technology transfer, production limitations from the seabed, what they perceived as onerous financial obligations on miners, and the establishment of a subsidized international public enterprise that, it was postulated, would compete unfairly with other commercial enterprises. (William, 2008. 45)

The Agreement concerning to the execution of Part XI of the United Nations Convention on the regulation of the Sea (hereafter referred to as the "agreement") concluded on 3 June 1994. The agreement avoids establishing a detailed regime anticipating all segments of activity related with mining of the deep seabed. However, it sets forth economic and commercial principles consistent with a free market philosophy to form the basis for developing rules and regulations at such time as commercial mining develops in international waters. (Eichengreen, 2006. 15) Requirement of metals is mounting hurriedly, and with the pointed rise in metal prices, we have seen that mining companies and their investors are highly concentrated on the submarine tender ore mining in the comparatively low production cost due to the depletion of rich metal contained globally.

The mining ...