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Australia’s national science agency Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisationhas agreed to take part in a controversial deep-sea mining project in the Pacific, becoming the fourth island nation to join calls for a moratorium on the industry.
CSIRO will lead a joint Australian and New Zealand Helped Metals Corporation (TMC) develop an environmental management plan for its project, which was supported by the Government of Nauru.
Earlier this week, Micronesia Said it would join Samoa, Fiji and Palau in calling for a moratorium on deep-sea mining.
But the governments of four different Pacific countries – Nauru, Tonga, Kiribati and Island – Mining projects have been sponsored.
New Zealand’s National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research will also join the consortium led by CSIRO. The metals company will pay $1.5 million for the work.
A coalition of conservation groups opposing seabed mining said the Australian and New Zealand governments were “on the wrong side of the debate” and deep-sea mining would “cause huge damage”.
The International Seabed Authority (ISA), an agency of the United Nations, is expected to publish deep-sea mining regulations in June 2023. Nauru The government last year activated a provision allowing a shift from exploration to mining.
The project targets polymetallic nodules on the seafloor at depths of 4 to 6 km in the Clarion Clipperton Zone (CCZ) of the Pacific Ocean. These potato-sized nodules are rich in metals and minerals needed to make batteries.
Metals Australia chief executive Gerard Barron said the CSIRO-led work would “lead to the development of a rigorous management plan focused on the cumulative impacts of collecting nodules … to enable the TMC to operate within safe ecological limits”.
In a statement, TMC said CSIRO would work with scientists from Museums Victoria, Griffith University and the University of the Sunshine Coast.
Nauru Ocean Resources, a subsidiary of TMC, is targeting the CCZ. In May, the company said it had A vehicle was tested at a depth of 2.5 km The vessel will travel along the seafloor to collect nodules. Further testing is planned in the CCZ later this year, with commercial operations scheduled to begin in 2024.
Barron added: “I am delighted that these trusted, independent bodies have agreed to undertake this research, setting a high standard for the industry’s future work.”
The ISA said it will publish deep-sea mining regulations by June 2023. Triggered by Nauru’s 2021 request Finalizing regulations that would allow the state to “facilitate approval of work plans for TMC developments.”
Nauru President Lionel Angemia wrote in his request that deep-sea mining of nodules would “lay the foundations for our transition to a renewable energy future and a circular economy.”
“We firmly believe that the responsible collection of seafloor polymetallic nodules will help us move toward a carbon-neutral future,” he wrote.
“The New Zealand and Australian governments are completely on the wrong side of this debate,” said Duncan Currie, an adviser to the Deep Sea Conservation Alliance.
He said that with opposition growing, it is not inevitable that the ISA will pass regulations next June.
“It’s a binary situation: Either you have regulations that give the green light to deep-sea mining, or you don’t have regulations,” Currie said. mining There will be huge damage. We know very little about the deep ocean environment and the ISA is not suited to act as a regulator.”
He said the coalition called on the Australian and New Zealand governments to “stand in solidarity with our Pacific neighbours” and oppose the start of mining.
Micronesian President David Panuelo Said his country wanted all exploration activities to be stoppedand the approval of any regulations until more is known about the potential impacts of seabed mining.
He said deep-sea mining could be a way for countries and companies to get rich and provide important resources.
But he added: “It is equally possible that deep-sea mining does lead to the systemic collapse of marine ecosystems, causing mass starvation and massive environmental damage that exacerbates human-induced climate change and causes enormous economic hardship for people and communities who do not benefit from mining activities but are directly affected.”
Conservation group WWF and carmaker BMW also called for Global moratorium on deep seabed mining – The request was also supported by Google, Volvo and Samsung Battery.
Research published in the journal Science last week claimed that noise from just one deep-sea mining site could raise noise levels up to 500 kilometres away.
The researchers say that if all 17 known CCZ mining applications go forward with a project, noise levels would rise to 5.5 million square kilometres (1.7 million square miles), an area larger than the European Union.
The researchers wrote that it is unlikely that enough data will be evaluated by the June 2023 deadline “given the costs and logistical challenges of answering fundamental questions about the effects of sound on deep-sea ecosystems.”
The metals company argues its extraction process is less destructive than land-based mining for nickel, cobalt, copper and manganese, and says it is developing a system that “minimizes acoustic disturbance of the water column.”
Barron said the study used low noise thresholds for whales and dolphins, and where noise levels were high was based on the unlikely assumption that up to 17 projects would be operating in the CCZ at the same time.
The metal company told the Guardian it had carried out A preliminary study on underwater noise and vibrationThe unit will validate its results when it tests the nodule collector later this year.
A statement said the company would develop a “noise propagation model” to “reduce the guesswork and speculation on which current discussions are based.”
In a statement, the CSIRO said it played a key role in “providing scientific advice to support decision-making so that decisions are made based on the best scientific advice”.
The agency is a global leader in developing ecosystem-based management and risk assessments, “and the consortium has extensive expertise in deep-sea biology and ecology, risk assessment, and systems modeling.”
The project will cost $1.5 million and will be delivered in three phases, with the first phase to be completed in 10 months. The work will “provide a rigorous and transparent risk assessment based on baseline studies already conducted by the metals company.”
A spokesman for Science Minister Ed Husick said in a statement: “CSIRO is Australia’s independent national science agency, governed by an independent board. Decisions about the research the organisation carries out, including individual research projects, are made independently by government.”
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