UN regulator delays deep-sea mining rules, but extends criticized exploration contract

The International Seabed Authority (ISA), the U.N.-associated regulator of seabed mining activities in areas beyond national jurisdiction, has extended a controversial deep-sea mining exploration contract and once again failed to finalize the rules needed to regulate commercial seabed mining.

The ISA’s 36-member council, which met from July 13 to 24, decided to extend the exploration contract for a subsidiary of Canadian deep-sea mining firm The Metals Company (TMC), allowing the company to retain exclusive exploration rights for blocks of the seabed in the Pacific Ocean. This decision stemmed from the ISA’s finding that TMC’s subsidiary, Nauru Ocean Resources Inc. (NORI), had met all the criteria for renewal.

This move was met with criticism from both ISA council members and observers since TMC is also pursuing deep-sea mining in the same areas outside of the ISA’s legal framework and, in early July, even launched a lawsuit against the ISA for its scrutiny of TMC’s activities.

Louisa Casson of Greenpeace International, who was an observer at the council meeting, said in a statement that the ISA’s decision to extend TMC’s contract set a “dangerous precedent for both the deep sea and the rule of law” that also “calls into serious question the regulator’s ability to enforce basic compliance under its existing rules.”

Organizations including Greenpeace International are critical of deep-sea mining, arguing that this activity would have devastating and likely irreversible effects on the marine environment.  Forty-five countries have also called for a moratorium or precautionary pause on deep-sea mining. Advocates for the industry, on the other hand, say that deep-sea mining would be far less destructive than land-based mining and would provide important sources of critical minerals needed for renewable energy and defense technologies.

The extended ISA contract would give TMC’s subsidiary NORI an additional five years to explore for minerals across its contracted areas in the Pacific and provide a pathway for the company to apply, via the ISA, to commercially mine those areas.

Meanwhile, TMC has been moving in another direction. Rather than waiting to apply for an exploitation license through the ISA, in 2025, TMC turned to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), seeking exploration and exploitation permits for many of the same areas in international waters covered by its ISA exploration contracts. NOAA draws its authority to issue these permits from a 1980 U.S. federal law known as the Deep Seabed Hard Mineral Resources Act (DSHMRA). While DSHMRA is a valid domestic law, its legality under international law is disputed. NOAA’s decision on TMC’s applications is pending.

TMC’s pivot to the U.S. prompted the ISA to launch an inquiry in July 2025 into whether the company was still in compliance with the obligations of its ISA contracts. In response, TMC’s two subsidiaries, NORI and Tonga Offshore Mining Limited (TOML), took the ISA to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) in June 2026, arguing that the inquiry process had been unfair and the company had not been given adequate opportunity to respond to the concerns raised by the regulator.

On July 18, ITLOS issued its decision, finding that the ISA could continue with its inquiry but that it must respect NORI’s and TOML’s rights to due process. Gerard Barron, the chairman and CEO of TMC, welcomed the ITLOS decision, saying in a statement that it confirmed that the “ISA’s conduct is subject to meaningful judicial oversight” and that “strong institutions, accountability, and the rule of law are critical to the ongoing development of the seabed minerals industry.”

The ISA itself said in a statement that it had taken “careful note” of ITLOS’ provisional measures orders, but that the decision doesn’t “deal with the merits of the claims, or any questions relating to the merits of the claims themselves”, meaning that the ISA’s inquiry into TMC was not affected by the order.

During its July meeting, the ISA’s council also spent considerable time negotiating the rules that would eventually govern the exploitation stage of deep-sea mining. While ISA made previous assurances that the mining code would be finished by the end of this year, observers say it remains far from finished. The ISA has been working on the mining code since 2014, but has regularly missed deadlines to finalize it. 

“The one thing for sure is that there’s not going to be any adoption this year,” Pradeep Singh of Lisbon-based marine conservation organization Oceano Azul Foundation, told Mongabay in a phone interview. “Nobody has said that we are ready for that.”

Singh said several provisions remain unresolved, including how the sharing of financial or economic benefits from seabed mining activities should be handled; and whether standards and guidelines, supporting documents that explain how the mining code should be implemented, should be adopted at the same time as the mining code itself. He said there was also uncertainty about whether the mining code would only apply to the mining of polymetallic nodules, lumpy, mineral-rich rocks found in flat expanses of the seafloor, or to other forms of deep-sea mining that would target mineral deposits in underwater mountains, known as seamounts, or hydrothermal vents.

“Most countries think it’s for nodules,” Singh said. “Some countries think it’s for everything, and so they [the ISA] need to clarify this.”

There had initially been some discussion of holding an additional council meeting in October to advance negotiations on the mining code and other outstanding issues, but council members ultimately decided to continue negotiations at the council’s next scheduled session in March 2027. 

Banner image caption: An undescribed benthic jelly photographed in the deep waters of the Papahānaumokuākea U.S. national monument in the Pacific Ocean. Image courtesy of NOAA Ocean Exploration, 2025 Beyond the Blue.

Elizabeth Claire Alberts is a senior staff writer for Mongabay and was a 2024-2025 fellow with the Pulitzer Center’s Ocean Reporting Network. Find her on Bluesky and LinkedIn.

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