INTERNATIONAL SEABED AUTHORITY TO CONTINUE WORK ON EXPLORING FOR POLYMETALLIC SULPHIDES, COBALT-RICH CRUSTS

Background Release

INTERNATIONAL SEABED AUTHORITY TO CONTINUE WORK ON EXPLORING

FOR POLYMETALLIC SULPHIDES, COBALT-RICH CRUSTS

KINGSTON, 1 August (International Seabed Authority) -- Issues involved in exploration for the two newest categories of mineral discoveries in the deep ocean will be the main topic at the eighth session of the International Seabed Authority, meeting in Kingston, Jamaica, from 5 to 16 August.

As agreed at its last annual session, in July 2001, the Authority will consider how to proceed with the issues involved in regulating prospecting and exploration for deposits of polymetallic sulphides and cobalt-rich crusts located in international seabed areas beyond national jurisdiction.  Commercial exploitation of these resources, especially the sulphides, is seen as likely to occur sooner than the mining of polymetallic nodules, which are the only mineral resources on the sea floor for which the Authority has devised regulations so far.

At the two-week session, the Authority will also consider the future course of its work, notably plans to step up its promotion and coordination of marine scientific research related to the seabed environment.  These are described in the annual report by the Authority’s Secretary-General, Satya N. Nandan, and in his budget proposals for the next two years.  The proposed budget contemplates expenditures of $10,509,700 in 2003-2004, less than 1 per cent above the current level.

A technical workshop meeting this week in Kingston (29 July-2 August) is expected to propose specific research projects for international collaboration aimed at shedding light on the deep ocean environment, especially as it might be affected by future mineral extraction activities.

Also on the agenda are the election of half the membership of the 36-member Council of the Authority, and a proposal to formalize its emblem and flag.

The Authority, with a current membership of 138, was established under the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, as modified by the 1994 Agreement relating to the Implementation of Part IX (seabed provisions) of the Convention.  Its task, as set out in the Convention, is to organize and control all mineral-related activities in the international seabed area beyond the jurisdiction of any State, an area underlying most of the world’s oceans.  The Convention defines this deep seabed area and its resources as “the common heritage of mankind”.  In existence since 1994, the Authority is an autonomous international agency having a relationship agreement with the United Nations.

As usual, the forthcoming session involves meetings of both of the Authority’s principal organs -– the Assembly, composed of all members, and the Council.  The Legal and Technical Commission will hold closed meetings.

Polymetallic Sulphides and Cobalt-Rich Crusts

The two types of mineral deposits on which the Authority will focus at the forthcoming session are associated with undersea volcanoes and hot springs.  Since their discovery in 1979, the hydrothermal sulphides –- many bearing rich concentrations of copper, zinc, silver and gold –- have been the object of great public, as well as scientific, interest, largely due to the exotic life forms that thrive in an environment unlike any existing elsewhere on earth.  Microbes, worms and larger animals living here depend not on oxygen and sunlight, like the rest of the earth’s creatures, but on the heat and sulphurous emanations from beneath the sea floor, in conditions that would kill most other forms of life.

The rarity and fragility of this undersea ecosystem, the potential it holds for biological understanding, and the possibility of discovering new sources of compounds for industrial and medical applications highlight the need to protect this irreplaceable environment.  In his annual report, Secretary-General Nandan points out that, beyond its focus on mineral resources, the Authority has a broader role in protecting the environment of the “particularly sensitive” ecosystems centred on hydrothermal vents.  Several such sites, he adds, “are already under potential threat either from intensive scientific exploration, including bioprospecting, or from future mining activities”.

Four marine scientists commissioned by the Authority have submitted a brief, non-technical survey of this topic (ISBA/8/A/1).  They will supplement this by oral presentations to the delegates on Wednesday, 7 August, before the Council takes up this topic during the second week of the session, following consideration by its Legal and Technical Commission of the issues involved.  Their paper notes that polymetallic sulphides are found along an active submerged volcanic mountain range that extends through all the world’s ocean basins, as well as around volcanic island chains such as those along the western edge of the Pacific Ocean.  The other resource, cobalt-rich iron-manganese crusts, cover the submerged flanks of inactive underwater volcanoes throughout the oceans, on ridges and other seafloor elevations where currents sweep the rocks clear of sediments; best mining prospects are in the equatorial part of the central Pacific. 

The two types of deposits also differ in their origins.  The crusts, up to 25 centimetres thick, are like polymetallic nodules in that they form from metals precipitated out of the cold overlying seawater and accumulate slowly over millennia (1-6 millimetres per million years).  The sulphides form where seawater bearing dissolved metallic compounds is heated (up to 400 degrees Celsius) by underlying hydrothermal sources and is thrust up into the surrounding seawater.

Pondering the likelihood of commercial exploitation, the paper says of the sulphides:  “The recovery of some of these deposits appears to be both economically and environmentally feasible due to certain advantages over land-based deposits and will likely become a reality within the present decade.”  Crusts, on the other hand, since the minerals are bonded to the sea floor, will require new technology to separate them, in a process more complex than the gathering of loose-lying polymetallic nodules.  Nevertheless, given the industrial importance of the minerals they contain, “there is a growing recognition that cobalt-rich crusts are an important potential resource”.

The Council began exploring this topic in July 2001 at the request of the Russian Federation, but put off further consideration to the forthcoming session.  Among the aspects to be addressed is how regulations for sulphides and crusts should differ from those that the Authority adopted in 2000, relating to polymetallic nodules. 

Future Work and Budget

Having completed last year a series of decisions establishing its institutional framework, the Authority is now moving towards a more technical orientation, Secretary-General Nandan points out in his annual report (ISBA/8/A/5).  Although “the prospects for commercial mining of the deep seabed remain uncertain” due to economic, physical and technological constraints, much needs to be done to promote and encourage scientific research relating to the seabed. 

A workshop meeting this week -– the fifth in an annual series convened by the Authority -– will examine proposals for specific research of a type that will help the Authority carry out its environmental monitoring functions and also benefit seabed contractors.  Meanwhile, the Authority is collaborating with several institutions on a project to study biodiversity, species range and gene flow in nodule-bearing areas of the deep Pacific Ocean, with a view to predicting and managing the impacts of deep-seabed mining.  Led by the University of Hawaii, this cooperative effort will also have the support of the Natural History Museum of London, the British Antarctic Survey, the Southampton Oceanography Centre (United Kingdom), the French Research Institute for Exploitation of the Sea (IFREMER) and the Japan Marine Science and Technology Centre (JAMSTEC). 

Next year, a workshop will promote the development of a geological and exploration model of the Clarion-Clipperton Fracture Zone in the Pacific, the main region of polymetallic nodules.

During the first week of the forthcoming session, the Legal and Technical Commission is to examine the first set of reports required annually from the seven seabed contractors that last year signed contracts with the Authority for polymetallic nodule exploration.  The Authority plans to facilitate this monitoring effort by further development of a central data repository that will collect and centralize all the information it can obtain from public and private sources on marine mineral resources.

The work plans of the Authority are to be financed under a budget for 2003-2004 that requires approval at the forthcoming session by both the Council and the Assembly, along with a scale of assessments apportioning the contributions of members.  The proposed budget (ISBA/8/A/6-ISBA/8/C/2) totals $10,509,700 over the two years, including $5,221,900 for 2003 and $5,287,800 for 2004.  The staff would remain at the currently authorized strength of 37 posts.  Staff costs of $7,532,600 are the main component of the proposed budget, which also includes $1,115,100 for conference servicing, and $1,034,000 for goods and services such as furniture and communications.

Regarding payment of budgetary contributions, the Secretary-General reports that 96 per cent of the total amount of 2001 assessments and 47 per cent of those for 2002 had been paid by 30 June 2002.  However, as of that date, 46 members were two years or more in arrears, subjecting them to the possible loss of their vote.

The Secretary-General has suggested that the Assembly consider meeting every other year instead of its current schedule of annual sessions, with the Council continuing to meet each year.  The aim would be to give more time to the Legal and Technical Commission to do preparatory work for consideration by the Council.

Elections

The 36-member Council of the Authority is elected by the Assembly for four-year terms, with half the membership chosen every second year.  Thus, the members to be chosen at the forthcoming session will serve from 2003 through 2006, except in a few cases where they agree to relinquish their seat early in favour of others.  To ensure the adequate representation of all special interests and geographic regions, members are chosen from five groups:  A, four States from major consumers or net importers of minerals of the kind found on the seabed; B, four from major seabed investors; C, four from the major net exporters of such minerals; D, six from various categories of developing States, such as the most populous, the landlocked or geographically disadvantaged, island States, major importers, potential producers and the least developed; and E, 18 chosen to give the Council geographical balance.  In the membership as a whole, regions are to be represented as follows:  Africa, 10 (nine in 2003); Asia, nine (eight in 2004); Western Europe and Others, eight (seven in 2002); Latin America and the Caribbean, seven; and Eastern European, three.

Members whose term expires at the end of 2002 are:  Group A, Russian Federation and Italy; Group B, Germany and Netherlands; Group C, Australia and Indonesia (in addition, South Africa has agreed to relinquish its seat to Zambia in 2003 and Gabon in 2004); Group D, Egypt, Fiji and Jamaica; Group E, Cameroon, Chile, Nigeria, Pakistan, Paraguay, Republic of Korea, Saudi Arabia and Tunisia.  Members are eligible for re-election from the same or any other interest group to which they belong.

Members remaining on the Council through 2004 are:  Group A, Japan (the United Kingdom, whose term extends through 2004, has agreed to relinquish its seat to France if so requested); Group B, China and India; Group C, Portugal; Group D, Brazil, Papua New Guinea and Sudan; Group E, Argentina, Czech Republic, Gabon (through 2003 from Group E and in 2004 from Group C), Guyana, Namibia, Poland, Senegal, Spain, and Trinidad and Tobago. 

Algeria, a current member whose term extends through 2004, will relinquish its Group E seat in 2003 under an arrangement in which the African Group gives up one seat for the year.  Malta, also elected through 2004, has relinquished its Group E seat in 2002 under a similar arrangement involving the Western European and Others Group.  An Asian seat is to be relinquished in 2004.  The regional groups involved are entitled to appoint one of their members to participate in the Council without vote during the relinquishment period.

The Assembly is also due to replace Paul McKell (United Kingdom), who has resigned from the 15-member Finance Committee.  His Government has nominated Michael C. Wood to serve the balance of a five-year term ending in 2006 (ISBA/8/A/3).

According to an agreement reached last year, the African Group is to nominate the President of the Assembly for 2002, while the Group of Latin American and Caribbean States will nominate the Council President.

Headquarters

In his annual report, Secretary-General Nandan has voiced “the greatest concern and the utmost regret” at the lack of progress in negotiating an agreement with the Government of Jamaica on the use and occupation of the Authority’s permanent headquarters in downtown Kingston.  In 1999, the Assembly accepted Jamaica’s offer of a long-term lease of the second floor and additional space in the building that the Authority has occupied since its inception.  However, since then the two sides have not been able to agree on how maintenance costs for the building should be apportioned and how much the Authority should pay towards maintenance of the adjoining Jamaican Conference Centre, in which it holds meetings for three weeks each year. 

Unable to obtain acceptable cost information, the Authority informed the Government in December 2000 that it had decided to discontinue payment of maintenance charges.  In April 2002, building services were suspended without warning, forcing the office to close for two days until they were restored following urgent consultations with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.  However, financial and other issues have yet to be resolved, nearly three years after signature of the Headquarters Agreement governing the Authority’s premises.

Members of Authority

All parties to the Law of the Sea Convention are automatically members of the Authority.  The current membership is 138, up from 135 at the last session in July 2001.  The newest parties to the Convention are Bangladesh, Hungary and Madagascar.  The list of members is as follows:

Algeria, Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belgium, Belize, Benin, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Brunei Darussalam, Bulgaria, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Chile, China, Comoros, Cook Islands, Costa Rica, Côte d’Ivoire, Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Dominica, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, European Community, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Finland, France, Gabon, Gambia, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Ireland, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kenya, Kuwait, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Lebanon, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Malta, Marshall Islands, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mexico, Monaco, Mongolia, Mozambique, Myanmar.

Also, Namibia, Nauru, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Palau, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Romania, Russian Federation, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Slovakia,

Slovenia, Somalia, Solomon Islands, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Suriname, Sweden, The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Togo, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Uganda, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United Republic of Tanzania, Uruguay, Vanuatu, Viet Nam, Yemen, Yugoslavia, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

The documents of the forthcoming session are reproduced on the International Seabed Authority’s Web site, www.isa.org.jm.

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