SEABED AUTHORITY TO RESUME STUDY OF HYDROTHERMAL SULPHIDES AND COBALT CRUSTS, 28 JULY TO 8 AUGUST

SEABED AUTHORITY TO RESUME STUDY OF HYDROTHERMAL SULPHIDES AND COBALT CRUSTS, 28 JULY TO 8 AUGUST

(Reissued as received.)

KINGSTON, JAMAICA, 24 July (International Seabed Authority) -- The International Seabed Authority (ISA) will examine some novel approaches to the regulation of mineral exploration in the deep oceans when it convenes for its ninth annual session at Kingston, Jamaica, from 28 July to 8 August, to continue work on deposits of hydrothermal polymetallic sulphides and cobalt-rich crusts, scattered widely about the earth’s oceans in areas beyond national jurisdiction.

Having adopted in 2000 a code for potential miners to follow when they look for polymetallic nodules, the Authority is now tackling two other types of deep-sea deposits with markedly different characteristics and distribution patterns.  It faces the challenge of devising a scheme to ensure that these recently discovered resources will be developed as part of the “common heritage of mankind”, in the words of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Four bodies of the Authority will meet during the two-week session:  its two principal organs, Assembly and Council, as well as the Legal and Technical Commission (LTC) and the Finance Committee.  Subgroups of the LTC are meeting in the week before the session, while the full Commission will meet on 28 and 29 July prior to convening the two principal organs on Wednesday, 30 July.

While the Council and the LTC will concentrate on sulphides and crusts, the main item on the Assembly’s agenda will be the annual report of Secretary-General Satya N. Nandan on the work of the Authority (ISBA/9/A/3).  This discussion will enable members to comment on the current and future work of the Authority, including suggestions to expand its scientific and technical activities.

The Authority, with a current membership of 143, was established under the Law of the Sea Convention, 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.

Sulphides and Crusts

This will be the third year in which ISA is considering how exploration for hydrothermal polymetallic sulphides and cobalt-rich crusts should be regulated in seabed areas outside the jurisdiction of any State.  Knowledge about the occurrence and distribution of these rich mineral sources was scanty in 1998 when the Russian Federation first asked the Authority to look into the topic.  Since then, the secretariat has submitted explanatory papers, including suggested model clauses, and the Council and the Legal and Technical Commission have looked into the issues involved.  Both bodies agreed last year that the matter should be approached cautiously, in view of gaps in the information available about these resources and the sensitivity of the marine environments in which they are found.

Last year’s discussions brought out some of the reasons why these new types of deposits will have to be treated differently from polymetallic nodules: 

-- Polymetallic nodules are lumps of metallic ore, between golf ball and soccer ball in size, scattered loosely in expansive fields on abyssal plains.  Their quantity in a given area can be assessed simply by photographing the ocean bottom.  They can be scooped up by mechanical harvesters with little physical damage to the seabed.

-- Cobalt-rich ferromanganese crusts, derived like the nodules largely from metals precipitated out of seawater, are fused to the seabed in layers up to tens of metres thick, often buried beneath other seabed deposits.  They are found on the flanks and ridges of a globe-encircling, mid-ocean mountain range.  Assessment of their occurrence and metal content and their eventual exploitation will require digging or drilling the ores out of a solid rock bed.

-- Hydrothermal polymetallic massive sulphides occur typically in chimney-like structures, called smokers, surrounding undersea hot-spring vents.  Their minerals come mainly from magma, the mass of molten rock deep beneath the earth’s crust, where it breaches the ocean bottom in volcanic regions along the margins of ocean basins.  Individual deposits are small and scattered.  Mining would require the destruction of the smokers, with potentially catastrophic consequences for the exotic animal communities that live in the superheated, oxygen-deprived water and cannot exist in a normal environment dependent on sunlight.

All three of these resources are rich in cobalt, copper, iron, lead, manganese, nickel and zinc, while the hydrothermal sulphides and crusts also contain gold and silver, along with rare earth metals.  In the ore, these metals are chemically combined with sulphur, forming sulphides.

The Council will be looking for ways to encourage environmentally friendly exploration of these deposits with a view to their eventual exploitation, while ensuring that the international community, represented by the Authority, also benefits from this “common heritage of mankind”.  One suggestion is that, instead of allocating to the Authority areas equal in commercial value to those assigned to the contractors –- as is the case for polymetallic nodules –- the Authority should be ensured the right to participate with contractors in joint ventures or shared-equity schemes.

In his report on the Authority’s work, Secretary-General Nandan urges caution at this stage:  “Until scientific knowledge improves, and especially knowledge of the potential environmental consequences of mining, there is little justification for the adoption of a comprehensive regulatory code.  The objective should be to progressively develop a regulatory regime as prospecting and exploration activities take place and better knowledge of the resources and the environment in which they occur is gained.”

The LTC will consider these issues at open meetings during the first week of the upcoming session, after which the Council will discuss its report and decide how to proceed.

Contractors’ Reports

The Legal and Technical Commission will examine the second round of reports from seven government-sponsored entities holding contracts with the Authority that entitle them to explore for polymetallic nodules in specified ocean tracts.  These reports, covering the contractors’ activities during the previous year, are required under the terms of their 15-year contracts, signed with the Authority in 2001.  Last August, after evaluating the first set of reports, the Commission recommended a standard structure for these documents.  It will report to the Council on the results of this year’s examination.

Research and Data Collection

One of the main tasks assigned to the Authority by the Law of the Sea Convention is the promotion of scientific research relating to the seabed, with special regard to protection of the marine environment.  To this end, ISA convenes annual technical workshops on specific topics.

The most recent of these workshops, held at Nadi, Fiji, in May, has proposed a strategy to develop a geological model for the Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ), the region in the north central Pacific Ocean, between Hawaii and the North American coast, that has the richest supply of polymetallic nodules anywhere in the oceans (see Press Release SEA/1759 of 20 May).  The aim is to help prospectors and scientists understand how and where nodules occur.  Under this scheme, scientific institutions would collaborate over four years, with ISA encouragement and support, to analyze existing research and produce a set of maps and descriptions constituting a geological model.  The LTC will examine a report on this workshop and consider how ISA might assist.

The Council will receive a briefing on progress by other organizations in seabed research, including a project begun this year, coordinated through the University of Hawaii, that is examining biological diversity in the CCZ.  This is one of four projects endorsed by an ISA workshop last year.

The Authority is continuing to develop its Central Data Repository on marine mineral resources (including seabed patents), which is now available over the Internet through the Authority’s Web site.  Information obtained from a number of scientific institutions is displayed in standardized formats.  The secretariat plans to begin work this year on a digital atlas of the international seabed area showing boundaries, geological features, seafloor topography and the location of all known mineral deposits.

Future Work

The secretariat plans to begin studying prospects for exploitation of non-living resources in areas of the continental shelf more than 200 nautical miles from shore.  Under the Law of the Sea Convention, coastal States are entitled to claim such areas, but they are also required to make payments to the international community, through the Authority, when they exploit the resources.  The Secretary-General, in his report on the Authority’s work, states that, although such resources are now “submarginal”, technological improvements may one day make it economical to develop them.

The Secretary-General also stresses the need for a close watch on potential environmental threats to the deep ocean due to bioprospecting –- the investigation of genetic material for possible commercial use.  He sees the threat as most acute around hydrothermal vents, which would eventually be protected by Authority regulations.  A related problem is how to ensure a fair sharing of benefits from such research without unreasonably limiting commercial incentives and intellectual property rights.

Administration and Finance

The Authority and the Government of Jamaica have yet to settle outstanding issues relating to the payment of maintenance expenses for the Authority’s headquarters in Kingston.  In his report on the work of the Authority, the Secretary-General states that the Government has not responded to his proposals on how office maintenance charges should be calculated, and that no progress has been made on how much the Authority should pay for its use of the adjoining Jamaica Conference Centre, where its annual sessions are held.  Although the Authority had paid its electricity bill through the end of 2002, the Government, without warning, suspended air conditioning and janitorial services for a week in April 2003, causing the temporary closure of ISA offices.  A long-awaited supplementary agreement relating to the headquarters has yet to be concluded with the Government.

The Protocol on Privileges and Immunities of the Authority entered into force on 31 May 2003, having been ratified by 10 States.

The Authority is operating under a budget of $10,509,700 for 2003-04, approved last August.  The Secretary-General envisages the need to strengthen the technical capabilities of the 37-member secretariat, a matter to be addressed next year in his budget proposals for 2005-06.  Meanwhile, the assessments of member States for 2003-04 have been reduced by $2.6 million, due to internal savings and a payment by the United States last September of $1,074,000, covering its arrears for the period up to November 1998 during which it was a provisional member.  As of 31 May 2003, 38 States and the European Community have paid their contributions in full, amounting to 72 per cent of total assessments.  However, 68 members still owed money, of which 49 were more than two years behind, threatening them with loss of vote if they do not pay up.

The Secretary-General reports that three contributions totalling $10,500 have been received so far to a new voluntary trust fund aimed at helping members from developing countries pay their costs of attending meetings of the LTC and the Finance Committee.  The Committee will give further consideration to this matter, along with headquarters issues and the audit report for 2002.  The Committee’s report will be examined by both the Assembly and the Council.

The Assembly is to choose replacements for two members who resigned from the Finance Committee in May:  Peter Döllekes (Germany) and Narinder Singh (India).  Their respective governments have nominated Bernd Kreimer and Manimuthu Gandhi to succeed them (ISBA/9/A/4 and A/1).  The Council is to select a replacement on the LTC for the late Yuji Kajitani (Japan), for whose seat Japan has nominated Yoshiaki Igarashi (ISBA/9/C/1).  All three candidates would serve the rest of their predecessors’ five-year terms, through the end of 2006.

Members of Authority

All parties to the Law of the Sea Convention are automatically members of the Authority.  The current membership is 143, up from 138 at the last session in August 2002.  The newest parties to the Convention are Albania, Armenia, Kiribati, Qatar and Tuvalu.  The list of members is as follows:

Albania, Algeria, Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia, 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, Kiribati, 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, Qatar, 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, Serbia and Montenegro, 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, Tuvalu, Uganda, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United Republic of Tanzania, Uruguay, Vanuatu, Viet Nam, Yemen, 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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