Int'l Seabed Authority conference opens today

Howard Campbell, Gleaner Writer

The 17th annual session of the International Seabed Authority (ISA) opens today at its Jamaica Conference Centre headquarters in downtown Kingston.

Over 90 of the organisation's 162 members are expected to attend the two-week event which will consider the granting of mining licences to companies from four countries. There will also be the election of officers to the ISA's legal and technical commission, and its finance commission.

ISA secretary general, Nii Odunton of Ghana, is optimistic that mining licences will be granted to companies from China, the Russian Federation, Tongo and Narau. He said it will not only increase the number of licensees to 12, but lift the ISA's profile.

"I would love to see the contracts awarded. It would show something is happening," Odunton told The Gleaner.

Seeking permission

The companies from China and the Russian Federation are hoping to explore the south-west Atlantic Ocean for polymetallic sulphide. Their counterparts from Tongo and Nauru are seeking permission to mine polymetallic nodules in the fertile Clarion-Clipperton Zone located in the north Pacific Ocean.

Their applications will be reviewed by the ISA's legal and technical commission, before an ultimate decision is made by its assembly.

Contractors are required to pay the ISA royalties once they are granted a mining licence.

The ISA's current contractors comprise seven companies and the government of India who hold exploration licences to mine polymetallic nodules in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone.

Established in 1994 by the United Nations as an independent treaty organisation, the ISA's members are signatories to the Law of the Sea Convention. The organisation administers exploration rights to 50 per cent of the earth's surface.