You have to imagine a black, silent world, whose organisms are discovered by scientists in bits and pieces. Which is according to the consecrated formula less well known than the surface of the moon. This world of deep seas, however, is already attracting large investments in Canada and Belgium, particularly to prepare for the exploitation of the ores it contains. This question will be central, Wednesday, February 9, during the opening of the Summit of the oceans, One ocean summit, in Brest. Twenty Heads of State and Government are gathered for the occasion.
>>Deep seabed: France invests in mining exploration, a sensitive subject
In these deep seas, three types of ore have been mapped: polymetallic nodules, similar to large black potatoes, hydrothermal sulphides, large chimneys sometimes active at 1,500 m depth on the oceanic ridge, and cobaltiferous crusts, which form a crust a few tens of centimeters thick.
Po locate them at a depth of 4,000m, Ifremer, lFrench Research Institute for the Exploitation of the Sea, sends sensors to identify the presence of methane. “Our systems can take water from different depths, explains geologist Ewan Pelletier. So if we find a methane concentration that is much higher than that usually found in seawater, it is because it is below. We then have enough clues to send a remotely operated robot into the deep sea.” If these minerals are of interest it is because they contain metals necessary for the energy transition: nickel, cobalt, copper and manganese, used for electric car batteries. According to Ifremerthe polymetallic nodules in the northeast Pacific, off Mexico and Hawaii, would make it possible to exploit 340 million tonnes of nickel.
“We find both base metals such as copper, nickel or zinc, as well as precious metals such as gold and silver, and finally so-called high-tech rare metals such as selenium, indium or germanium.”
Ewan Pelletier, geologistat franceinfo
Nevertheless, Ewan Pelletier recognizes this: “For the moment, we do not yet have an assessment of these volumes, we are in a preliminary approach.”
NGOs and some scientists are concerned about the consequences of mining, because it is still difficult to assess the potential damage to the way the ocean stores carbon in the depths, and to the organisms that live there. . Ifremer has been studying deep-sea organisms for several decades and exploiting their habitat could affect them, according to biologist Pierre-Marie Sarradin, deep-sea specialist for Ifremer: “We know that there are organisms, that they are small and numerous, and that some are very rare. We know that exploiting them would risk making some of them disappear. We also know that returning to an ecosystem can -to be not identical but comparable, would be very long in the conditional.
“A few years ago, we were simply trying to ask ourselves the question of how the ocean works; now, in addition to how it works, we wonder what will happen if we ever exploit it.”
Pierre-Marie Sarradin, biologistat franceinfo
To protect these deep seas which are in international zones, the UN has created an organization: the International Seabed Authority. For the moment, it has only issued exploration permits, which make it possible to better understand the environment, but also to prepare the ground for possible exploitation. Thirty-one permits have been issued, mostly in the Clarion Clipperton area, which contains polymetallic nodule fields off Mexico and Hawaii over 9 million square kilometers.
Two companies already have machines capable of dredging funds. The Belgian Global Sea Mineral Resources carried out its first tests in April 2021. The Canadian The Metals Company has obtained three exploration permits and is preparing to carry out full-scale tests in the Clarion Clipperton zone. It called on a giant of offshore installations, Allseas, which built an 80-tonne machine to try to suck up the minerals from 4,200m deep.
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For the managing director of The Metals Company, Gerard Barron, future exploitation will not affect the seabed. “We have already asked our partner Allseas for the first production vessel, which will go to the Clarion Clipperton area in the coming months.he explains. We will thus be able to see all the stages of the process working, how the collector, the extraction system and the production vessel behave in the area. When this stage is complete, the ship will return to port and we will make some modifications to be ready for production in 2024.”
For now, The Metals Company only has an exploration license, but it hopes to force the hand of the International Seabed Authority to snatch an exploitation license soon enough. The International Authority is also working on the development of a mining code. For the countries concerned, it would be a way of supervising extraction by taking into account the fragilities of the environment with, for example, the definition of protected areas, a way of avoiding being faced with a kind of Far West. But for the Deep Sea conservation coalition, a coalition of NGOs – including Greenpeace – opposed to exploitation, the adoption of regulations would actually mark the kick-off… of exploitation.
François Chartier, in charge of the ocean campaign for Greenpeace, fears to see such licenses awarded within a year: “On the one hand, there is the acceleration of negotiations for the establishment of a mining code, with a number of states and mining companies pushing for it to succeed. way, France is one of them.”
“Today, the question of being able to fetch ore at 1000, 2000, 5000 up to 6000 meters is no longer science fiction, it is something that can become a reality.”
Francois Chartier, of Greenpeaceat franceinfo
These NGOs are calling for a moratorium on seabed mining. A motion was also adopted in September at the congress of the IUCN, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, for biodiversity in Marseille. At that time France had abstained. France, precisely, which has two exploration licenses, more or less dormant, managed by Ifremer has developed a strategy for the exploitation of these mineral resources and intends to assess the impact and feasibility.