Cook Islands nodule field - photo taken within Cook Islands EEZ. Photo: Cook Islands Seabed Minerals Authority
A new report by an ocean conservation charity says deep sea mining may not actually make any money.
The Ocean Foundation says there is high uncertainty around prices for metals and the circular economy could make deep sea mining unnecessary.
The process involves extracting rocks called nodules from the sea floor kilometres deep, which are packed with metals that can be used for electric car batteries.
However, The Ocean Foundation says despite electric vehicle production increasing by 2000 percent from 2016 to 2023, the price of cobalt, one of the main metals found in the nodules, has decreased.
RNZ Pacific's Caleb Fotheringham has more.
