[News Terms] The Controversial 'Clarion-Clipperton Zone' Due to Deep-Sea Mining

The 'Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ)' is a mud plain covering 6 million square kilometers located in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, between Mexico and Hawaii, at an average depth of 5,000 meters.

Rich in mineral resources, development zones have been allocated to governments and companies worldwide. Recently, a joint research team led by the Natural History Museum in the UK published a paper in the biological journal Current Biology, reporting the discovery of 5,578 species, of which 90% are new species without scientific names, drawing significant attention to the area.

Conceptual diagram of deep-sea manganese nodule mining system.
[Photo by Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries]

The minerals mined in the CCZ are mainly mineral lumps called manganese nodules. Manganese nodules contain over 40 types of metals, including manganese, nickel, and cobalt. These metals are key materials for batteries needed in electric vehicles and renewable energy storage devices. It is estimated that the nickel contained in the CCZ's manganese nodules alone amounts to 340 million tons, which is more than three times the world's terrestrial nickel reserves.

South Korea registered a deep-sea manganese nodule development area (150,000 km²) with the International Seabed Authority (ISA) in August 1994 under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, and through exploration secured an exclusive development area of 75,000 km² (about three-quarters the size of South Korea) in August 2002. The estimated manganese nodule resource within South Korea's exclusive development area is approximately 560 million tons. At an annual mining scale of 3 million tons, this is a massive amount that can be developed for over 100 years.

However, there is a dilemma between the expectation that securing minerals necessary for eco-friendly energy transition will contribute to curbing global warming and the concern that the destruction of the unknown deep-sea ecosystem could bring irreversible disasters.

If the ISA under the UN does not establish related regulations by the 9th (local time), from the next day, the 10th, commercial mining of deep-sea minerals will be possible through license applications. Amid recent Chinese export restrictions on gallium and germanium, there are claims that deep-sea mining could be an alternative to reduce dependence on Chinese minerals. Hans Olaf Hyde, chairman of the deep-sea mining company UK Seabed Resources (UKSR), said, "Deep-sea mining is necessary for the European Union (EU) to counter China's dominance of the battery metals supply chain."