Palau leader warns of 'catastrophic' consequences of deep-sea mining

Deep-sea mining could have a "catastrophic" impact in the Pacific, the president of Palau told AFP, as companies forge ahead with plans to hoover up millions of tonnes of seabed in the hunt for valuable metals.

Mining companies want to scrape vast sections of the Pacific Ocean for metals such as nickel and cobalt -- used in electric car batteries -- and are planning to ramp up full scale operations from 2024.

Conservation groups and scientists fear this could devastate poorly understood marine systems that play a crucial role in regulating the climate.

Palau President Surangel Whipps Jr said deep-sea mining should not go ahead until more was known about its impacts.

"Please put a moratorium on it," he told AFP.

"We are your partners in the Pacific, and we share this ocean, and we must make sure that what we do doesn't contribute to our islands sinking."

Palau is an archipelago of some 340 islands east of the Philippines, and is extremely vulnerable to rising seas.

It joined forces with Fiji and Samoa earlier this year to push for a 10-year ban on deep-sea mining until the environmental impacts were better understood.

"Can we slow down, take a stocktake of where we are, and really do our part to do the proper research before we do something that could be catastrophic to our oceans," Whipps Jr said.

France has taken an even tougher position -- in November it backed an outright ban -- while Germany and Spain have also voiced concern.

Marine biologists from the University of California, Santa Barbara summarised the risks in a paper published by the World Economic Forum earlier this year.

"The sheer importance of the ocean to our planet and people, and the risk of large-scale and permanent loss of biodiversity... necessitate a pause of all efforts to begin mining of the deep sea," it read.

- Blueprint for mining -

On the other side of the debate sit low-lying Pacific nations Nauru, Tonga, Kiribati and the Cook Islands, which see deep-sea mining as a potentially lucrative income stream as climate change disrupts other industries.

A Canadian outfit called The Metals Company is leading the push to mine in a section of the Pacific Ocean called the Clarion Clipperton Zone, a sweeping expanse of seafloor more than twice the size of Alaska.

In November it announced the completion of "historic deep sea trials" by its subsidiary in Nauru.

Chief executive Gerard Barron told AFP initial results from environmental monitoring were "encouraging", and they planned to "begin first production by the end of 2024".

The company has said it expects to be mining 10 million tonnes of material from the ocean floor every year, starting in 2025.

Joey Tau, who works with conservation group Pacific Blue Line, said the region should not be used as a testing ground.

"For the Pacific, it's come from a history that we've seen this part of the world go through waves of tests -- it reminds us of nuclear testing back then," Tau told AFP from Suva, Fiji.

"We support a global ban."

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