Deep Sea Mining & the Issues

· Polymetallic nodules (also called manganese nodules) are at the forefront of deep-sea mining. Replicas of these potato-shaped nodules are throughout the exhibit. Nodule growth is one of the slowest of all known geological phenomena, on the order of a centimeter over several million years.

· Why mine these?- These nodules are rich in manganese, copper, nickel, precious metals and cobalt often in higher concentration than can now be found in land mining. Clean energy technologies lithium-ion batteries, solar panels and wind turbines heavily really on metals, including lithium, cobalt, aluminum, manganese, and nickel. Cobalt, Nickel & Magnesium demand are all projected to exceed land supply by 2030 or as early as 2025.

· During the scientific expeditions of HMS Challenger (1872–1876), Polymetallic nodules were found to occur in most oceans of the world. However only in 4 regions is the density of nodules great enough for industrial exploitation- the Central Indian Ocean basin, the Clarion Clipperton Fracture Zone (CCFZ), the PERU basin, and Penrhyn Basin around the Cook Islands. The Penrhyn Basin and CCFZ are considered the two most “valuable” exploitation areas.

· All Nations own (can fully regulate) the area within 12 miles off their coast and have sovereign rights to marine resources within 200 miles off their coast. The International Seabed Authority (ISA) was set up in 1994 by the UN to govern mining for the benefit of all mankind in the “other “area (over 50% of the worlds oceans).

· The International Seabed Authority (ISA) has granted 31 exploration licenses as of 2023, nineteen of these contracts are for the exploration for polymetallic nodules in the Clarion-Clipperton Fracture Zone (17) and Central Indian Ocean Basin (1), and Western Pacific Ocean (1).

· There have been huge changes in capabilities in the last decade. Companies with large resources including equipment have partnered with small countries to get exploration licenses and large funding countries have sponsored companies and partnered with small countries to get exploration licenses. Over 12 companies/countries have functioning equipment trials underway. The top two companies as of 2023:

o Canadian based The Mining Company (TMC) is the leader – Holds three licenses & could start commercial harvesting in 2025 sponsored by Nauru & then Tonga & Kirabati.

o Belgians Global Sea Mineral Resources (GSR) a subsidiary of the Belgian dredging group DEME is considered number 2.

o GSR & TMC, have each scooped up more than 3000 tons of the nodules on exploratory missions in 2023 and have submitted reports to the ISA to approve commercial operations.

· China is the leading country in terms of licenses for exploration, with five contracts - Chinas South China Holdings Co Ltd, China MinMetals, China Ocean Mineral Resources Research and Development Association (COMRA).

· Polymetallic Nodule mining schemes propose sending down tractor-sized vehicles to vacuum up nodules and send them to the surface, where a ship would clean them and discharge any unwanted sediment back into the ocean. But the impacts of deep-sea mining such as the effect of that turbulent plume of the dumped sediments on marine ecosystems are currently unknown. Concerns include:

o Habitat destruction: The nodules that contain the minerals are a key part of the deep sea's ecosystem and mining them could destroy biodiversity and habitats.

o Irreversible damage: Deep-sea mining could irreparably harm marine ecosystems.

The Dilemma

Where do we find the materials needed to move to a greener future? Is potential destroying an unknown ecological system worth it to save a known system that is in decline?

 Exhibit Artists

Patty Chang is a Los Angeles based artist and educator who uses performance, video, installation and narrative forms when considering identity, gender, transnationalism, colonial legacies, the environment, large-scale infrastructural projects, and impacted subjectivities. Her museum exhibition and book The Wandering Lake investigates the landscapes impacted by large scale human-engineered water projects such as the Soviet mission to irrigate the waters from the Aral Sea, as well as the longest aqueduct in the world, the South to North Water Diversion Project in China. Her collaborative project, Learning Endings, is a multi-part interdisciplinary research that has surfaced amidst the overlapping contexts of climate crisis, threatened ocean ecosystems, and challenges to scientific expertise. It examines the work of scientists who perform necropsies of dead marine mammals as unacknowledged forms of attention and care, and explores how various kinds of art practice can support this care work.

 

David Kelley is an artist working with photography, video, and installation. His recent projects draw attention to the effects of global capitalism, resource extraction, and shifting physical and political landscapes. Influenced by a range of visual traditions, Kelley draws upon elements of experimental documentary, ethnography, performance, and avant-garde cinema. By working at the intersection of these strategies, he encourages an understanding of his subjects that is simultaneously direct and speculative.

 

From LACMA website

Patty Chang and David Kelley will research the implications of the United Nations International Seabed Authority’s upcoming decision to permit deep sea mining, weighing both the legal and ecological considerations with the project Stray Dog Hydrophobia.