Bahrain Sponsors Impossible Metals Deep Sea Mining Permit Application

Bahrain has sponsored deep-sea mining firm Impossible Metals' application for a mining permit with the International Seabed Authority, becoming the first Middle Eastern country to throw its support behind the fledgling industry as part of an economic diversification push.

Privately-held Impossible Metals last Friday filed a 170-page application with the Jamaica-based ISA for a permit to mine part of the Pacific Ocean known as the Clarion-Clipperton Zone that contains polymetallic nodules filled with manganese, copper, nickel and other building blocks of electric vehicles and electronics.

Any country can allow mining in its territorial waters. The United Nations-backed ISA was authorized by a 1980s treaty to permit and regulate mining in international waters, although it has yet to finalize rules. A company wishing to apply for a permit must have a sponsor country, as Nauru has done with The Metals Co and Beijing has done for several Chinese companies.

Supporters of deep-sea mining say it would lessen the need for land-based mining. Detractors say more research is needed to determine how the practice could affect oceanic ecosystems. California-based Impossible Metals said it has developed a robotic device with a large claw that uses artificial intelligence to reduce environmental impacts.

Bahrain, with an