On 18 November 2011, the signing ceremony for the international seabed polymetallic sulphide exploration contract between the China Ocean Mineral Resources Research and Development Association (COMRA) and the International Seabed Authority (ISA) was held in Beijing. COMRA Secretary-General Jin Jiancai and ISA Secretary-General Nii Allotey Odunton signed the contract on behalf of the two parties. Officials attending the ceremony included Liu Cigui, Party group secretary and Administrator of the State Oceanic Administration (SOA); Wang Fei, member of the SOA Party group, Deputy Administrator of the SOA and Chairman of COMRA; Michael Lodge, legal counsel of the ISA; Zhang Kening, legal expert of the ISA; Jia Guide, Deputy Director-General of the Department of Treaty and Law of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Yao Jinsong, chief of the environment and resources division of the Department of Economic Construction of the Ministry of Finance and member of the ISA Finance Committee; Zhang Haiqi, head of the basic geology department of the China Geological Survey and member of the ISA Legal and Technical Commission; Li Haiqing, Director of the SOA General Office; Zhang Zhanhai, Director-General of the SOA Department of International Cooperation; and Li Bo, Deputy Director of the COMRA office. The ceremony was chaired by Chairman Wang Fei.
With the signing of the exploration contract, COMRA obtained its second international seabed contract area carrying exclusive exploration rights and priority rights to commercial mining, following the 75,000 km2 polymetallic nodule exploration contract area it obtained in the northeast Pacific international seabed area in 2001. Under the terms of the exploration contract, over the next 15 years COMRA will fulfil obligations including environmental monitoring, environmental baseline surveys and research, and the training of scientific and technical personnel from developing countries, and within 10 years of the signing of the contract it will relinquish 75 percent of the exploration area, retaining 2,500 km2 as the contract area carrying priority mining rights.
On 7 May 2010, immediately upon the ISA’s adoption of the Regulations on Prospecting and Exploration for Polymetallic Sulphides in the Area (the Regulations), COMRA assessed the situation and became the first to submit an application for a contract area to the ISA; the SOA and the Ministry of Finance, on behalf of the Chinese government, provided the sponsorship and financial commitment for the application respectively. On 19 July 2011, during the ISA’s 17th session, the ISA Council approved COMRA’s application for a polymetallic sulphide contract area. On that basis COMRA signed a 15-year exploration contract with the ISA. The contract area is located on the Southwest Indian Ridge, covers 10,000 km2, and is confined within a rectangle 990 km long and 290 km wide. Under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, the international seabed area and its resources are the common heritage of mankind, and the ISA organizes and controls the exploration and development of mineral resources in the Area on behalf of all humanity. Seafloor polymetallic sulphides are formed by hydrothermal activity, are rich in metals such as copper, lead, zinc, gold and silver, and are mainly distributed along mid-ocean ridge zones; they hold enormous potential economic value and good development prospects, and the environments in which they occur are of high scientific value for humanity’s understanding of the ocean. COMRA’s surveys within the area under the exploration contract will contribute to the understanding and use of seabed resources, to raising the level of scientific knowledge of the deep sea and to effective protection of the seabed environment, will help drive related deep-sea technology and equipment development to a new level, and will help realize the purpose established by the Convention that activities in the international seabed area serve the interests of all humanity.
Before the signing ceremony, Administrator Liu Cigui, Deputy Administrator Wang Fei and other officials met Secretary-General Odunton and his party at the State Oceanic Administration. Liu welcomed Odunton’s visit to the SOA and expressed the hope of deeper cooperation with the International Seabed Authority.
Appendix:
1. The International Seabed Authority
The International Seabed Authority is the organization through which the States Parties to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, in accordance with the international seabed regime established in Part XI of the Convention and the Agreement relating to the Implementation of Part XI of the Convention, organize and control activities carried out by member States on the deep seabed beyond national jurisdiction, in particular the administration of the mineral resources of the Area. The Authority is an independent intergovernmental organization. It has the power to adopt regulations pursuant to the Convention and the Implementing Agreement; in future commercial deep-sea development it will have the function of sharing revenues equitably with deep seabed development contractors; and it may have an organ authorized to engage directly in the development of mineral resources on the deep seabed, the Enterprise.
2. Relinquishment of areas
Under the exploration contract, the total polymetallic sulphide area allocated by the International Seabed Authority to a contractor may not exceed 10,000 km2. The contractor must relinquish parts of the area originally allocated to it on the following schedule: (a) by the end of the eighth year from the date of the contract, the contractor must relinquish at least 50 percent of the original allocated area; (b) by the end of the tenth year from the date of the contract, the contractor must relinquish at least 75 percent of the original allocated area, with the final retained area not exceeding 2,500 km2. Relinquished areas revert to the Area.
