There, where up to six kilometres below the water’s surface thousands of years of coral to grow, plan for a commodities company, with gigantic machines to reduce valuable ores. You promise a billion-dollar business – and, they argue, to deal with the projects of climate change. One of the leading companies funded the majority from Switzerland.
The more E-Bikes, mobile phones, computers, or even solar systems are made, the greater the demand for metals such as cobalt, Nickel, manganese, Lithium, or copper. Such ores are mined in the world in mines. The destroyed large tracts of land. In addition, cases of child labour and corruption in the mining industry are, again and again.
at the same time tons of such ores lie on the sea floor. You have deposited tens of millions of years. At the beginning of tiny particles, which over the long period of time, metal particles, moreover, were to a large manganese nodules of thumb emerged. The raw material companies have it apart especially on those areas that are outside of any territories. In this no-man’s land on the high seas, comprises almost half of the surface of the earth should be billions of such tubers.
At the forefront of the canadian company Deep Green Metals involved in this business. The project is in the research phase, but in the next few years, it is time to start with commercial mining in the deep sea. Among the main investors in the Deep Green of the Zug-based commodities group Glencore, which has secured for the ores already acceptance rights. In addition, recently, the oilfield equipment supplier Allseas Group, with headquarters in Freiburg has invested of Châtel-Saint-Denis, over 100 million Swiss francs.
Deep Green wants to depart with a kind of vacuum cleaner the Size of a house, the bottom of the sea, and thus all that eyes, what comes out of the machine in the way. The sucked tubers are to be transported via a mile-long pipe to the surface of the sea, in ships loaded and brought ashore.
In the darkness, there are fascinating creatures
The Problem: no one knows exactly what is happening in 4000 meters depth, if there once the machines rise. If this is the quietest place in the world, the rest is over at once.
In the deep sea prevail permanent darkness and temperatures around the freezing point. And yet, there is living beings. “There are many different types of animals that have adapted in a fascinating way to this inhospitable habitat,” says marine biologist Iris Menn, Director of Greenpeace Switzerland. You and other researchers and environmentalists fear that the deep-sea mining will destroy the fragile Ecosystem, or at least arg could damage it. “Everything is growing very slowly,” explains Menn, “I’m not convinced that in such a sensitive System is a sustainable reduction of ores is possible.”
Gerard Barron, CEO of Deep Green, does not deny that animals and plants are covered because of the mining sediments and thereby can be damaged. However, the layer of this Deposit is low, the damage is thus limited, he writes as a response to the criticism. “The life in these seas is only been researched minimally, one can say, therefore, whether damage caused by mining cannot be made right,” says Barron. The says marine biologist Menn: that is Precisely why it should be on the sea floor, no mining activity, before this is resolved.
According to a recently published report by Mining Watch Canada, Deep Sea Mining Campaign and London Mining Network, representatives of the civil society, the tourism, the fisheries, but also NGOs, academics and the part of government Agencies around the globe for a Moratorium on deep-sea mining demand. The Ecosystem of the oceans standing globally is already under severe Stress due in part to the pollution caused by plastic. At a Minimum, but there are strict environmental protection should be rules and large-scale protection zones.
In fact, are currently being drawn up internationally, several agreements, which govern the use of the high seas. In New York for a round of Negotiations was held in August to an ocean of the Treaty. The Federal office for the environment (FOEN) of Switzerland. The minutes of a meeting of an observer, which is the Sunday newspaper, shows that especially those States were opposed to a strong Pact for the protection of the environment. You prefer to use the already existing regional agreements, which contain more in depth environment standards. Apparently, the FOEN took over this Position. The authority, on request, no comment.
in Parallel, since 1994, existing UN international seabed authority (ISA) developed a so-called Code for the use of the oceans. This authority, based in Kingston, Jamaica, awards currently, research licenses for deep sea mining projects. Expected within the next two years they will move to allow firms and countries, the commercial removal.
The ISA commander-in-chief plays in this future market of raw materials, therefore, a Central role, as do local power. Deep Green Metals maintains with both actors a special kind of closeness.
Also Nauru is hoping to money in removal fees
The ISA Secretary-General Michael Lodge film the company appears in an ad personally. He is on a ship, in his helmet and the company emblazoned logo Deep Green. Lodge explained on request, it is not part of his duties, “to visit the partners organised events”. The world’s population will grow by 2050 to 9.6 billion people. “It is, therefore, Central to find new sources of raw materials, which are reliable and whose removal is clean and ethical. The Code takes into account both the need for new resources, as well as a strict environmental protection,” says Lodge. Deep Green has received from the ISA already have a license for the exploration of the Clarion-Clipperton Zone, an area of around 74 000 square kilometers between Hawaii and Mexico.
Tight-Gerard Barron, CEO of Deep Green is associated with the small Pacific island state of Nauru. Nauru has ore deposits within its miles also. In addition, the country presides currently the so-called Pacific island forum, in the rights of use are discussed.
Nauru had forty years ago, worldwide, the highest Per-capita income. Today, it is practically bankrupt, decades of phosphate mining has destroyed the environment, habitable only in a narrow coastal strip. In this plight of Nauru entered into a Joint Venture with Deep Green. CEO Barron promised the mini-state in the last of February, for the mining of the ore fees of tens of millions of Swiss francs per year, such as the British “Guardian” wrote.
The connection between Deep Green and Nauru, so much so that chief Barron took in February at a UN conference of the ISA in the place of Nauru and to the Assembly the advantages of deep-sea mining was allowed to explain. “The Decisions taken by the ISA, private companies have in this process, no voice,” says Barron of the Sunday newspaper. However, they had invested a lot in order to understand what are the environmental impacts of the mining on Land versus the mining of manganese nodules in the deep sea have. Nauru was of the opinion that it is important that the ISA-Council understand this. “That’s why I was there,” says Barron.
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Created: 26.10.2019, 22:02 PM
