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It wants to dominate critical-mineral supply chains

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SCATTERED ACROSS the ocean floor are trillions of lumps of nickel, copper, cobalt and manganese. Companies have long wanted to mine them: these “critical minerals” are needed in vast quantities to electrify the global economy and cut dependence on fossil fuels. But the International Seabed Authority (ISA), a UN body, is still figuring out how mining should be regulated. Some environmental groups want an outright ban. Supporters and critics of deep-sea mining are hashing out these issues at an ISA meeting in Jamaica between July 29th and August 2nd. Of the 160-odd countries participating, few have more interest in the outcome than China.

Demand for critical minerals might more than double by 2040 compared with 2020, according to the International Energy Agency, a forecaster. China is a big reason why. It makes most of the world’s solar panels, electric cars and batteries, all of which require such minerals. Last year clean-energy industries accounted for 40% of the growth of its GDP, according to the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, a think-tank in Finland. But China has to import many of the critical minerals it uses. Its manganese comes from South Africa, Gabon and Australia. Most of its cobalt comes from the Democratic Republic of Congo. Its nickel largely comes from the Philippines and Indonesia.

These dependencies worry China’s leaders. They fear supplies could be disrupted by political turmoil or pressure from rivals like America. The scramble for critical minerals is “a new front for strategic competition among global powers”, says China’s national intelligence agency. Officials rank critical metals alongside oil and gas in their importance to China’s future. Deep-sea mining promises a secure supply. And it would occur in international waters, beyond other countries’ sovereign authority. In 2016 Xi Jinping, China’s leader, said his country must get its hands on the “hidden treasures” of the ocean.

To that end, China has spent years building up influence at the ISA, which has authority over the seabed in international waters under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). The ISA is largely financed by its member countries, and China gives it more money than any other donor. In 2020 it also gave the ISA a training facility in Qingdao, a port city in eastern China. At ISA meetings last year, some countries tried to introduce a moratorium on deep-sea mining. They failed, in large part because of pressure from China. Its goal is to create a permissive mining regime that brooks no interference from other countries, says Isaac Kardon, of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a think-tank in Washington.

In total the ISA has issued 31 licences allowing the holders to explore for minerals in preparation for commercial operations. Three Chinese miners—China Ocean Mineral R&D Association, China Minmetals and Beijing Pioneer Hi-Tech Development—hold five between them, more than any other country’s miners. They are itching to start operations. Three of the Chinese licences cover patches of seabed in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone, an enormous region in the eastern Pacific Ocean that holds quantities of critical minerals roughly equivalent to all terrestrial reserves. The other two are in the western Pacific and the Indian Ocean.

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Companies typically mine in order to make money, but China’s also have grander concerns. Take China Minmetals, a state-run giant that has an exploration licence for about 7.3m hectares of ocean floor (an area bigger than Sri Lanka). In March its chairman vowed to secure mineral supplies in order to help “rejuvenate the Chinese nation”. Chinese companies must expand operations until they “cannot be dislodged” from global supply chains, he said.

Deep-sea mining involves sending a large robot to the seabed to hoover up lumps of metal, known as nodules. A support ship then sucks up the nodules through a pipe. All this is tricky because of the low visibility and high pressure at the bottom of the sea. China’s technology is not quite cutting-edge. But it is getting there. In July a team from Shanghai Jiao Tong University sent a test robot (pictured) to depths of below 4,000 metres to collect 200kg of material. The robot was largely built from Chinese-made components, “smashing international monopolies”, said China’s state media.

If commercial mining gets going, Chinese companies might well end up leading the industry, says Cory Combs of Trivium, a consultancy. China can build ships and robots faster than any other country. Its officials have a history of lavishing subsidies on emerging industries. And its deep-sea miners have a giant domestic market for the riches they bring to the surface.

All this worries environmental groups. The deep-ocean floor supports thousands of unique species, from microbes to sponges. Even with strict regulation and responsible operators, mining robots are likely to cause damage. They can kill the organisms they drive over; the plumes of sediment they create can kill more. Chinese miners, moreover, do not have a record of being responsible even on land, where their activities are easier to monitor.

China’s rivals are uneasy too, and not just for the sake of the sponges. One worry is that deep-sea mining could act as cover for less peaceful activities. Surveys of the deep ocean would help China’s naval submarines navigate. In 2021 a research vessel sent by China Minmetals took an unexplained detour from its exploration zone. It spent five days in the waters near Hawaii, where America has big military bases.

Western countries’ biggest concern, though, is about who controls the supply chains of clean-energy industries. China already has a substantial advantage. Deep-sea mining might cement it. America, meanwhile, is shut out of ISA discussions as it has not ratified UNCLOS. In March a group of retired American officials wrote to the Senate demanding that it ratify the treaty. Chinese miners had “taken advantage of our absence”, they said.

Such worries are a boon, however, to the Western businesses arguing for deep-sea mining. One of these is The Metals Company, a Canadian outfit that hopes to apply for a commercial-mining licence from the ISA later this year. It gets a warm reception in Washington these days, says Gerard Barron, its founder. “People have latched on to the fact that China is going to potentially dominate this industry,” he says. “It’s a very motivating driver.” ■

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ChinaClimate change.css-2x8c4j{margin:0.875rem 0;}.css-2x8c4j .e12sz0jx0+*{margin-top:0.875rem;}.el1rg701+.css-2x8c4j{margin-top:0;}.css-1aogxph{color:var(–mb-colour-greyscale-london-20);font-family:var(–mb-typeface-sans);font-size:var(–mb-typestyle-label-2-size);font-variant:var(–mb-typestyle-label-2-figures);line-height:var(–mb-typestyle-label-2-leading);}.css-1aogxph s,.css-1aogxph del{-webkit-text-decoration:line-through;text-decoration:line-through;text-decoration-thickness:0.0625rem;}.css-1aogxph b{font-weight:var(–mb-font-weight-semibold);}.css-1aogxph i{font-style:italic;}.css-1aogxph sup{font-feature-settings:’sups’ 1;}.css-1aogxph sub{font-feature-settings:’subs’ 1;}.css-1aogxph u{text-decoration-thickness:0.0625rem;}.css-1aogxph a{color:var(–mb-colour-greyscale-london-20);-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;text-decoration-thickness:0.0625rem;text-underline-offset:0.1875rem;}.css-1aogxph a:hover,.css-1aogxph a:focus,.css-1aogxph a:active{text-decoration-thickness:var(–mb-spacing-3xs);}.css-1aogxph a:hover{color:var(–mb-colour-base-chicago-30);}.css-1aogxph a:hover span{text-decoration-color:var(–mb-colour-base-chicago-30);}.css-1aogxph a:focus{background-color:var(–mb-colour-base-chicago-90);color:var(–mb-colour-greyscale-london-5);text-decoration-color:var(–mb-colour-greyscale-london-5);outline:none;}.css-1aogxph a:active{background-color:var(–mb-colour-base-chicago-90);color:var(–mb-colour-base-chicago-30);text-decoration-color:var(–mb-colour-base-chicago-30);}

This article appeared in the China section of the print edition under the headline “Sunken treasures”

.css-1i1rou5 div>div:first-child{margin-left:var(–mb-spacing-lg);}.css-1i1rou5 ul>li:last-child{padding-bottom:0;border-bottom:0;}

China

August 3rd 2024

• →China is itching to mine the ocean floor 
• →Which Olympic sports is China good at?
• →To revive the economy, China wants consumers to buy better stuff
• →When China hides disasters in a memory hole

.css-ra48xw{font-family:var(–mb-typeface-serif);position:relative;}.css-duuyjs{display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-flex-direction:column;-ms-flex-direction:column;flex-direction:column;-webkit-box-pack:column;-ms-flex-pack:column;-webkit-justify-content:column;justify-content:column;-webkit-align-items:center;-webkit-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;align-items:center;text-align:center;-webkit-column-gap:var(–mb-spacing-lg);column-gap:var(–mb-spacing-lg);}.css-s61v3v{border-radius:0.125rem;box-shadow:-0.125rem 0.125rem 0.25rem 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.4);margin-bottom:0.75rem;min-width:10rem;max-width:12rem;}@media (min-width: 37.5rem){.css-s61v3v{min-width:12rem;}}.css-s61v3v img{display:block;max-width:100%;}.css-std7t4{max-width:16rem;}.css-nba04v{color:var(–mb-colour-greyscale-london-5);font-family:var(–mb-typeface-serif);font-size:var(–mb-typestyle-title-3-size);font-variant:var(–mb-typestyle-title-3-figures);font-weight:var(–mb-font-weight-medium);line-height:var(–mb-typestyle-title-3-leading);margin-bottom:0.25rem;}

From the August 3rd 2024 edition

.css-exdolm{color:var(–mb-colour-greyscale-london-5);font-size:var(–mb-typestyle-body-1-size);font-variant:var(–mb-typestyle-body-1-figures);font-weight:var(–mb-font-weight-regular);line-height:var(–mb-typestyle-body-1-leading);margin-bottom:1.5rem;}

Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents

⇒Explore the edition.css-v7aorn{margin-top:0.875rem;}.css-v7aorn +.eq1asik0{margin-top:3rem;padding-bottom:0;}.el1rg701+.css-v7aorn{margin-top:0;}.css-9ejc71{position:relative;border-bottom:0;border-top:0.0625rem solid var(–mb-colour-greyscale-london-85);color:var(–mb-colour-greyscale-london-35);}.css-9ejc71 .ebxshaw0{margin-top:0;}.css-9ejc71 >.e5z0ibw0>*{padding:var(–mb-spacing-md) 0;}.css-9ejc71 >.e5z0ibw0>*:nth-of-type(2){border-top:0.0625rem solid var(–mb-colour-greyscale-london-85);}@media (min-width: 37.5rem){.css-9ejc71 >.e5z0ibw0>*:nth-of-type(2){border-top:0;}}.css-9ejc71 >.e5z0ibw0 .e5z0ibw0{gap:var(–mb-spacing-sm);}.css-yb4x8x{display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-flex-direction:column;-ms-flex-direction:column;flex-direction:column;-webkit-align-items:stretch;-webkit-box-align:stretch;-ms-flex-align:stretch;align-items:stretch;-webkit-box-pack:start;-ms-flex-pack:start;-webkit-justify-content:flex-start;justify-content:flex-start;}@media (min-width: 37.5rem){.css-yb4x8x{-webkit-flex-direction:row;-ms-flex-direction:row;flex-direction:row;}}@media (min-width: 37.5rem){.css-yb4x8x{-webkit-align-items:center;-webkit-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;align-items:center;}}@media (min-width: 37.5rem){.css-yb4x8x{-webkit-box-pack:end;-ms-flex-pack:end;-webkit-justify-content:flex-end;justify-content:flex-end;}}.css-1j1j36d{display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-box-flex-wrap:wrap;-webkit-flex-wrap:wrap;-ms-flex-wrap:wrap;flex-wrap:wrap;row-gap:0.6rem;-webkit-column-gap:var(–mb-spacing-sm);column-gap:var(–mb-spacing-sm);}ShareReuse this content.css-169lzn0{position:relative;-webkit-align-self:auto;-ms-flex-item-align:auto;align-self:auto;display:none;}@media (min-width: 80rem){.css-169lzn0{grid-column-start:9;}}@media (min-width: 89rem){.css-169lzn0{grid-column-start:13;}}@media (min-width: 80rem){.css-169lzn0{grid-column-end:13;}}@media (min-width: 89rem){.css-169lzn0{grid-column-end:17;}}@media (min-width: 80rem){.css-169lzn0{grid-row-start:1;}}@media (min-width: 80rem){.css-169lzn0{grid-row-end:span 4;}}@media (min-width: 80rem){.css-169lzn0{display:block;}}.css-169lzn0:last-child::after{height:0;}.css-1y1zooy{display:inline;}.css-1y1zooy >*+*{margin-top:2rem;}.css-1y1zooy >*:only-child{margin-top:1.25rem;}.css-1y1zooy >*:last-child{position:-webkit-sticky;position:sticky;top:1.5rem;}.css-mqgbir{margin-top:6rem;}.css-mqgbir .ds-section-headline{margin-bottom:1rem;}

More from China

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Chinese authorities try to stop parents gaming the exam system (again)

.css-1p38euj{color:var(–mb-colour-greyscale-london-5);font-family:var(–mb-typeface-serif);max-width:43.75rem;font-size:var(–mb-typestyle-body-1-size);font-variant:var(–mb-typestyle-body-1-figures);line-height:var(–mb-typestyle-body-1-leading);}

They will go to great lengths to try

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China’s alarming sex imbalance

By 2027 one in six young Chinese men won’t be able to find a partner

.css-1r8cil5{border-width:0;border-top:1px solid var(–mb-colour-greyscale-london-85);margin:1.5rem 0;margin:1.5rem 0 1.25rem;width:100%;}

Behind DeepSeek lies a dazzling Chinese university

It models itself on Stanford, and is in the tech hotspot of Hangzhou

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Panama symbolises the Sino-American struggle for influence

The superpowers use soft and hard power

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Tensions with the West are fuelling China’s anxiety about food supplies

Grain pains are growing

Hail China’s new “ice-and-snow economy”

The country is betting on winter sports and tourism to boost growth in its rustbelt

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Источник: www.economist.com