"Governments must not undermine historic Global Ocean Treaty by giving greenlight to deep sea mining", 16 March 2021

[...]

The ISA’s mandate is to preserve the international seabed and control all mineral-related activities [1] . However, the deep sea mining industry has forced governments’ hands, using an obscure and controversial legal loophole to set an ultimatum for governments. In 2021, the president of Nauru together with The Metals Company’s subsidiary Nauru Ocean Resources,  triggered the “two-year rule” that puts pressure on governments at the ISA to allow deep sea mining to start by July 2023 [2].

[...]

Governments must push back on this timeline set by this controversial ultimatum [...] and ensure mining doesn’t go ahead in the next few months. But deep sea mining will continue to pose a threat even after the two year deadline, and countries must work for a moratorium on deep sea mining, which could be agreed at the ISA Assembly made up of 167 States plus the European Union. [...]