China’s technological advancements in deep sea mining
Mining the ocean floor, known as deep-sea, for submerged minerals is a little-known experimental industry, but as the demand to make mobile phones, batteries and solar panels increases, the scope of mining of valuable materials like copper, zinc and lithium has been expanding from land-based to seabed mining. The mining for materials already takes place within countries’ marine territories, but areas beyond the national jurisdiction i.e., 200 nautical miles from shore, they cooperate through the Law of the Sea Convention.
It has been ratified by 167 countries and the European Union, but not the U.S.[i] Scientists discovered the valuable minerals on the seafloor over a century ago, but it hasn’t been technologically or economically feasible to extract out the minerals until the past decade.
Widespread growth of battery-driven technologies such as smartphones, computers, wind turbines and solar panels is changing this calculation as the world runs low on land-based deposits of copper, nickel, aluminium, manganese, zinc, lithium and cobalt. These minerals are found in potato-shaped “nodules” on the floors of the deep abyss, known as polymetallic nodules, as well as in and around hydrothermal vents, seamounts and midocean ridges.[ii] They’re found in the exploration zone of the eastern Pacific known as Clarion-Clipperton, and this area is of greatest commercial interest estimated to hold more nickel, cobalt and manganese than all known terrestrial deposits combined. A recent MIT cost-benefit analysis found that mining the nodules would be profitable, with annual revenues of up to US$2.2 billion a year.[iii] Energy companies and their governments are also interested in extracting methane hydrates – frozen deposits of natural gas on the seafloor.[iv]
Resource-hungry China is stepping up activity in one of the final frontiers of mineral wealth – the remote sea beds lying kilometres beneath the Indian and Pacific oceans. The world’s largest consumer and importer of minerals and metals is now studying the core technologies of seabed mining in the Indian Ocean, according to Tao Chunhui, one of the country’s leading oceanographers and a researcher at the State Oceanic Administration.[v] China is a coastal state with 2.997 million square kilometres of ocean area, but it is not yet viewed as a strong maritime power.[vi] To develop China into a “maritime power”, the national strategy of marine development began in 2012 under the leadership of Hu Jintao, the then general secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and Chinese president who said at the 18th CPC National Congress, “We should enhance our capacity for exploiting marine resources, develop the marine economy, protect the marine ecological environment, resolutely safeguard China’s maritime rights and interests, and build China into a maritime power.”[vii] China takes the resource potential of the seabed, seriously reflecting in it and frequently flaunting its topographical knowledge of the ocean floor to the neighbours and other claimants surrounding the South China Sea. China released a list of Chinese-language names and locations for some 55 new undersea features – seamounts, underwater canyons, and others – in the South China Sea.[viii] The current Chinese president, Xi Jinping, has also stressed the importance of marine power development and of establishing China’s marine economy as a new growth point, which led CPC to adopt the Deep Seabed Law, with firm support from the top leadership at the Twelfth National People’s Congress. The “Law of the People’s Republic of China on Exploration for and Exploitation of Resources in the Deep Seabed Area” (the law, or the Deep Seabed Law) was adopted on 26 February 2016 and went into force on 1 May 2016, marking China’s first special law dealing with the exploration for and exploitation of deep seabed resources.[ix]
The human interest in the deep sea-bed is not in the sea-bed itself, but rather the resources attached to it, which divide into four categories of mineral resources: first, liquid and gaseous substances such as petroleum, helium, nitrogen and few hydrocarbon deposits; second group comprises which occur under the sea-bed at depths greater than three metres, and the third group comprises ore-bearing silts and brines containing iron, zinc and copper.[x] The scientific findings also indicate that there are two new mineral resources in the deep sea-bed: polymetallic sulphides and cobalt-rich crusts.[xi]
The deep-sea is defined in legal terms as the sea-bed, ocean floor and its subsoil lying beyond the limits of national jurisdiction which is located under the high seas.[xii] The 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (the LOS Convention) named the sea-bed area as “the area” which together with its resources, is designated as the common heritage of mankind.[xiii] No state should claim or exercise sovereignty or sovereign rights over any part of the area or its resources, nor should any state or natural or juridical person appropriate any part thereof.[xiv] All the activities related to deep-sea are governed by the international regime create under LOS convention since deep see-bed areas are beyond the limit of national jurisdiction. Headquartered at Kingston, Jamaica, the International Seabed Authority (ISA) established in 1994 is an autonomous international organisation under the LOS convention and 1994 Agreement relating to the Implementation of Part XI of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.[xv] Under the treaty, activities conducted in areas beyond national jurisdiction must be for “the benefit of mankind as a whole” which included economic profit, scientific research findings, specialized technology and recovery of historical objects and the convention calls on governments to share them fairly, with special attention to developing countries’ interests and needs.[xvi] Potential investors who wish to explore and exploit mineral resources in the Area are obliged to co-operate with the ISA and are subject to the latter’s administration under the parallel system (which allows deep sea-bed resources to be divided between a potential investor/contractor and the ISA) designed by the LOS Convention and the 1994 Agreement.[xvii] China has become the fifth applicant, following France, Japan, India and the USSR, to register as a pioneer investor for deep seabed mining on 27 August 1990[xviii]. After signing a contract with the ISA, it became a contractor under the international sea-bed regime, a legal party to use and exploit the oceans for extracting the raw materials, industrial development and promotion of the development of science and technology.
The Chinese government began its investigation of sea-bed mineral resources at the end of 1970s[xix]. In 1980s, two scientific vessels - Xiangyanghong 16 and Xiangyanghong 9 - completed comprehensive surveys including meteorology, hydrology, physical sampling, environment and geology[xx]. The survey cruises carried out for the research and exploitation of deep seabed polymetallic nodules in the Equatorial Pacific Ocean, Mid-Pacific Ocean Basin and Eastern Pacific Ocean Basin with the total surveyed area of more than 2,000,000 sq. km, by means of geological sampling, deep sea photography, multifrequency echo sounding, single-channel seismic reflection gravity and magnetism survey with the total expenditure of about US$60 million[xxi].
The recovery of polymetallic nodules from the sea-bed 5,000 metres deep in the north Pacific by Xiangyanghong 16 in 1983 became the prelude to China’s deep sea-bed activities[xxii]. The purpose behind conducting these surveys to extract information about seabed mineral resources necessary to enable China to apply for the status of pioneer investor at the Preparatory Commission of the International Seabed Authority and the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (the PrepCom)[xxiii].
In order to strengthen the surveying of ocean manganese nodules, obtain an application area with abundant nodules, and to fulfil the need for the united organization who would handle the exploitation and exploration operations of ocean mineral resources, the China Ocean Mineral Resources Research and Development Association (COMRA) was founded officially on 9 April 1990, with approval of the State Council of China defined as a state enterprise[xxiv]. The new beginning of research and development of deep-sea mining in China started with the establishment of COMRA which fulfilled the need for a national institutional mechanism to co-ordinate scientific activities and international affairs. COMRA was created with the aim of doing research and development activity of international seabed mineral resources and uphold the justifiable rights and interests of China in the RD activity of international seabed resources, and contribute to the exploitation and utilisation of international seabed resources done by human race.[xxv] The functions of COMRA includes performing the national duty on the behalf of the Chinese government such as the training of technicians from the developing countries or the Enterprise Sector of Inter. national Seabed Authority, the payment exploration of mine site for the International Seabed Authority and the transfer of technology.[xxvi]
China is rich in land-based mineral resources which is rapidly depleting, but it is a large country with increasing population reflecting in its per capita possession of mineral resources that is much lower than the world average. In order to meet the national economic development, demand for raw materials such as copper, cobalt, and manganese has been satisfied by mining domestic ores and rest is being imported. The government launched the policy to diversify its resources dependency to meet the increasing demand in country. The purpose in China’s application for the deep seabed areas is to develop under the principles set out in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, new sources of mineral resources. For instance, China’s copper output enjoyed an increase of 11.4% during the first four months of 1990.[xxvii]
China has intensified its scientific investigation of the deep-sea bed in the Pacific after obtaining the status of pioneer investor. COMRA prepared a long-term exploration programme for China’s registered area for 1991-2005 with the targets ``to provide the reserve supply in the pioneer area and technology preparation for large-scale mining in the future’’.[xxviii] COMRA organised the five voyages between 1991 to 1995 and as a result, China relinquished 30 per cent of its pioneer area in accordance with relevant provisions of the LOS Convention.[xxix] During the first stage, a databank for ocean mineral resources was established, and the COMRA fulfilled its obligations by sponsoring a training programme for foreign scientists – four trainees (from Algeria, Belarus, South Korea and Sudan) in 1994[xxx]. The second stage marked with the nine survey trips for deep sea-bed explorations. The Ocean-I exploration vessel used the advanced techniques, including an automatic robot capable of working 6,000 metres under water to explore the sea-bed, environmental baselines and mineral resources which set sail in march 1999 to finally determine the pioneer mining zones of 75,000 square kilometres of sea-bed in the Pacific that not only marked the last stage of China’s Pacific mining explorations over the past decades, but also indicated that China had eventually found a “reserve resources base’’ of its own in the high seas.[xxxi] The exploration projects also covered certain surveys on environmental research including the continuous collection of baseline data and the selection of the Impact Reference Zone in the pioneer area.[xxxii]
Chinese scientists have predicted that the country is going to face a severe shortage of minerals. 39 out of 45 major types of minerals produced domestically could be inadequate for meeting demand within the nation and in order to supply the country’s rising demand for copper, cobalt, gold and the rare-earth elements that are vital in the manufacturing of smartphones and other high-tech products, China Minmetals Corporation, a state-owned company and now the country’s largest metals trader, has also delved into deep-sea mining research and development.[xxxiii] Together with the COMRA contracts, China is now a Party State which sponsors the largest number of seabed exploration contracts issued by the Authority covering all three types of deep-sea minerals (i.e., polymetallic nodules, polymetallic sulphides and cobalt-rich ferromanganese crusts).[xxxiv]
COMRA signed its first exploration contract with the ISA in 2001 for polymetallic nodules and has since gained the exclusive rights for exploration as well as preferential rights for exploitation in the contract area in the Clarion-Clipperton Fracture Zone in northeast Pacific, a deep ocean area as big as the continental US.[xxxv] In 2011 and 2014, COMRA signed additional exploration contracts for polymetallic sulphides and cobalt-rich ferromanganese crusts with the Authority, respectively.[xxxvi]
Among the twenty-nine 15-year contracts the ISA has entered into for exploration for polymetallic nodules, polymetallic sulphides and cobalt-rich ferro- manganese crusts in the deep seabed, China has acquired the following four contracts[xxxvii]:
– 2001, COMRA, polymetallic nodules, 75,000 sq. km of the North-east Pacific Ocean;
– 2011, COMRA, polymetallic sulphides, 10000 sq. km of the South-west Indian Ocean;
– 2014, COMRA, cobalt-rich ferromanganese crusts, 3000 sq. km of the North-east Pacific Ocean;
In May 2017,China and the International Seabed Authority signed a 15-year contract that allows China to explore for polymetallic nodules in the 72,745 square km of the Clarion-Clipperton Fracture Zone in the East Pacific Ocean.[xxxviii]
China has seen remarkable achievements in deep-sea exploration technology. For example, the successful launch of the “Three Dragons” equipment system symbolised China’s ambition to make full use of the deep seabed areas. Representing a technological milestone and an important part of the national marine strategy, the “Three Dragons System” consists of: – Human Occupied Vehicles (HOVs) known as “Jiaolong”; – Autonomous/Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) called the “Qianlong” series; and – Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs) designated the “Sea Dragon” series.[xxxix] Benefiting from a variety of technological advancements, China has undertaken over 50 ocean voyages to conduct comprehensive surveys and scientific research on the deep-sea environment and has acquired valuable first-hand knowledge in relation to mining activities in the Area. The latest 52nd ocean voyage set sail from Qingdao on 10 December 2018 and finished on 25 July 2019.[xl] Equipped with the most advanced “Jiaolong”, “Qianlong No. 3” and “Sea Dragon No. 3”, this voyage was an important task and a major part of China’s marine development project under the 13th Five-Year Plan for economic and social development (2016–2020).[xli]
Notes
Chen, C. Z. (2020). China’s Domestic Law on the Exploration and Development of Resources in Deep Seabed Areas. In The Law of the Seabed. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004391567_017
Keyuan, Z. (2003). China’s efforts in deep sea-bed mining: Law and practice. International Journal of Marine and Coastal Law, 18(4), 481–508. https://doi.org/10.1163/157180803322710994
Xie, L. (1993). Offshore Technology Conference. OTC 7105 Deepsea Mining in China, 233–240.
Zhang, D. (2018). China’s Growing Interest in Deep Sea Mining in the Pacific. Gessler 2017, 2017–2018.
Zhixiong, W. (1991). China and the exploitation of deep seabed polymetallic nodules. Marine Policy, Volume 15,(March), 132–135.
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[i] (Santo, Mendenhall, & Nyman, 2020)
[ii] (Santo, Mendenhall, & Nyman, 2020)
[iii] (Aldred, 2019)
[iv] (Santo, Mendenhall, & Nyman, 2020)
[v] (Zhou, 2016)
[vi] (Chen, 2020)
[vii] (Chen, 2020)
[viii] (Long, 2020)
[ix] (Chen, 2020)
[x] (Keyuan, 2003)
[xi] (Keyuan, 2003)
[xii] (Keyuan, 2003)
[xiii] (Keyuan, 2003)
[xiv](Keyuan, 2003)
[xv] (Keyuan, 2003)
[xvi] (Santo, Mendenhall, & Nyman, 2020)
[xvii] (Keyuan, 2003)
[xviii] (Zhixiong, 1991)
[xix] (Keyuan, 2003)
[xx] (Keyuan, 2003)
[xxi] (Zhixiong, 1991)
[xxii] (Keyuan, 2003)
[xxiii] (Keyuan, 2003)
[xxiv] (Xie, 1993)
[xxv] (Xie, 1993)
[xxvi] (Xie, 1993)
[xxvii] (Zhixiong, 1991)
[xxviii] (Keyuan, 2003)
[xxix] (Keyuan, 2003)
[xxx] (Keyuan, 2003)
[xxxi] (Keyuan, 2003)
[xxxii] (Keyuan, 2003)
[xxxiii] (Chen, 2020)
[xxxiv] (Chen, 2020)
[xxxv] (Yan, 2019)
[xxxvi] (Chen, 2020)
[xxxvii] (Chen, 2020)
[xxxviii] (Zhang, 2018)
[xxxix] (Chen, 2020)
[xl] (Chen, 2020)
[xli] (Chen, 2020)
(Pic courtesy-@zgc1993 at unsplash.com
(The views expressed are personal.)
