Staggering amount of mineral resources, including rare earth metals, estimated to be available in CCS

Advances in deep sea resource exploration and exploitation technologies have also given rise to the prospect of accessing seabed resources not only within areas of outer continental shelf but in deeper waters and areas beyond national jurisdiction. While developments in the area are proceeding apace, notably in respect of the Clarion-Clipperton Zone in the Equatorial North Pacific Ocean and in the Central Indian Basin of the Indian Ocean,n areas of outer continental shelf subject to national jurisdiction are likely to be particularly attractive areas for development from the perspective of the coastal states, which hold sovereign rights over these areas. Indeed, it has been estimated that the Clarion-Clipperton Zone alone holds more than 27 billion tonnes of nodules containing of the order of 7 billion tonnes of manganese, 340 million tonnes of nickel, 290 million tonnes of copper and 78 million tonnes of cobalt as well as rare earths needed for the production of many hi-tech products such as smart phones.⁷⁸ This led the International Seabed Authority's (ISA) Legal Counsel, Michael Lodge, to comment in May 2013 that "We are on the threshold of a new era of deep seabed mining."⁷⁹ While the figures suggested may appear extraordinary, there seems little doubt that interest in the exploitation of these resources will be sustained so long as commodity prices remain high. The ISA's approval of exploration plans for the development of cobalt-rich manganese crusts by Chinese and Japanese concerns during its nineteenth session in July 2013 also appears to bear out the seriousness of this interest.⁸⁰