The Pacific island nation of Nauru has only about 11,000 inhabitants. But it could trigger an earthquake that would fundamentally change not only the sea as the largest ecosystem on earth, but also the supply of raw materials. Nauru, together with the Canadian company The Metals Company (TMC), plans to apply for the world's first license to mine huge metallic deposits of raw materials on the seabed.
This would be the starting signal for mining in international waters, which make up more than half of the earth's surface. Because it is about a potential billion-dollar business, a geopolitical tug-of-war has been intensifying for months, reaching into the federal government. Environmental concerns collide with the desire for greater independence in the supply of metals such as cobalt, nickel or copper.
Developing countries are hoping for a much-needed source of income. The struggle for deep-sea mining is thus a true economic thriller. Until now, deep-sea mining has been considered an exotic topic. This is already evident from the fact that the International Seabed Authority (ISA), which as a UN sub-organization grants licenses for the exploration of potentially resource-rich areas at the bottom of international seas and is based in Jamaica, has only about 40 employees.
Plans from the seventies were not implemented
As early as the seventies, the German commodity group Preussag investigated the depths of the Pacific to see whether it might be worthwhile to use metals from so-called manganese nodules from the seabed. However, due to the falling price of raw materials on the world market, the considerations were abandoned.
Since 2006, Germany has had a 75,000 square kilometre licence area in the Pacific, where, according to the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR), large quantities of these manganese nodules, which are up to the size of handballs, can be found at depths of several thousand metres. They contain copper, cobalt, nickel, manganese and sometimes other metals.
"That's what makes them attractive – and that could make them competitive, despite the high energy costs of getting them from a depth of 4000 or 5000 meters," says BGR expert Annemiek Vink. In the race for raw materials, Germany's huge exploration area in the so-called Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ), which is hardly known to the public, seems at first glance like the solution to many problems.
Work on new high-tech products
After all, they want to become less dependent on authoritarian states like China when it comes to raw materials. Cobalt, for example, is highly sought after for high-tech products. For this reason, companies are developing various mining technologies in several countries. The BGR has already tested hydraulic collectors from Belgium. The Norwegian company Loke is developing a mining device for two British licence areas – and promises little damage to the seabed.
"We have to find alternatives in order not to be dependent on China," stressed Hildegard Bentele, CDU MEP and rapporteur of the European Parliament on raw materials supply, a few days ago at a deep-sea mining conference of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation.
But while the industry and the Union are pushing, the responsible green-led ministries in the traffic light government and many experts are very cautious and warn against entering the mining of manganese nodules, for example. This is mainly due to environmental reasons. "We advocate postponing the start of deep-sea mining. We need to protect the seabed and get clarity about possible consequences for the climate," says Franziska Brantner (Greens), parliamentary state secretary in the Ministry of Economic Affairs.