The International Seabed Authority will start accepting applications in July from companies that want to mine the ocean’s floor, a decision that came after the U.N. body spent the past two weeks debating standards for the new and controversial practice. Deep-sea mining would extract cobalt, copper, nickel, and manganese – key battery materials – from potato-sized rocks called "polymetallic nodules" on the ocean’s floor at depths of 4 to 6 km (2.5 to 4 miles). They are abundant in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ) in the North Pacific Ocean between Hawaii and Mexico.
About the Author
