Grabbing Deep-Sea Minerals: False Promises and Real Risks for the Underwater El Dorado

It's a world first, and an imminent threat to the abyss. On Tuesday, April 29, the Canadian company The Metals Company (TMC) filed its first application with U.S. authorities for deep-sea mining in the North Pacific. The goal: to extract rare metals needed to manufacture wind turbines, solar panels, electric cars, and smartphones. "A major step," believes the company's CEO, Gerard Barron, who has been pushing for the creation of this new industry for several years, despite scientific warnings.

Rather than wait for the outcome of lengthy international discussions aimed at regulating the exploitation of these areas, he turned to the extractivist Donald Trump; and the American president agreed on April 24 by signing an executive order aimed at examining requests to comb the ocean depths.

"It would be an environmental and climate disaster," lamented Minister for Ecological Transition Agnès Pannier-Runacher on Monday, April 28, recalling that France wants to ban this practice.