Oil, Gas, and Mineral Law Commons^™

A Deep Dive Into Private Governance Of Deep-Sea Mining, Andrew Johnson

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

Modern, information-driven economies need rare-earth metals for everything from laptop computers to cellular phones. Society will require more of these metals for the solar panels, wind turbines, and storage batteries necessary to convert electricity systems to renewable energy. The deep sea contains large amounts of high-quality, rare-earth metals that companies and nations are increasingly interested in mining. The International Seabed Authority (ISA) is authorized under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) to permit and regulate deep-sea mining of the sea floor outside of national jurisdiction (the “Area”), and the ISA is currently developing regulations to …