"With a Canadian company preparing a bid to mine the Pacific Ocean for minerals needed for electric vehicle batteries, an international oversight agency is meeting in Jamaica this month to come up with permitting rules.
A growing number of countries — most recently Canada — are opposing the prospect of quickly moving to allow ocean mining. They are facing off against mining proponents like China, Norway and Russia.
The debate around deep-sea mining — which some say could emerge as a trillion-dollar industry — is heating up as the world searches for materials for EVs and other renewable energy technology without disturbing land and critical watersheds. It will be up to the International Seabed Authority, or ISA, to determine how fast — and under what conditions — companies and countries can mine."