Photo: The Metals Company
Tonga has a new contract with Canadian mining group The Metals Company (TMC)
The deep sea mining frontrunner announced the "revised sponsorship agreement" between the Tongan government and TMC's subsidiary Tonga Offshore Mining Ltd in a press release on Monday.
It is for a deep sea mining area of international waters Tonga has special rights to through international oceans law. The area is known as the Clarion Clipperton zone (CCZ).
Tonga and TMC's previous contract for the country's block in the CCZ was signed 2021. The contract was for exploration activity only, and was signed through the International Seabed Authority (ISA) framework.
The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOIS) recognises the ISA as the world's deep sea mining regulator.
However, the United States has effectively challenged that by saying its own high seas legislation makes it a deep sea mining regulator in international waters.
Prior to this year, TMC's contracts with its Pacific partners, which includes Nauru as well as Tonga, had been through the ISA framework.
Nauru, like Tonga, has special rights in the CCZ. The country signed a new agreement with TMC in May which had provisions for mining to occur through both the ISA and US pathways.
TMC's announcement this week said Tonga's new contract was "updating the terms of the agreement" from 2021.
It did not specify whether the contract covered mining activity under both the US and ISA pathways.
It also said Tonga would receive benefits should mining occur through its company, and that Tonga was committed to working with the ISA and meeting obligations under international law.
Tonga's Natural Resources Minister said the contract marked "an important step toward ensuring that seabed minerals activities contribute meaningfully to Tonga's long-term development goals - with transparency, fairness, and environmental care at the core."
Last week, RNZ Pacific reported the Civil Society Forum of Tonga wanted its government to refrain from signing a new agreement with TMC.
Its chair Drew Havea said the group wanted Tonga out of deep sea mining entirely.
