Canada's The Metals Company (TMC) plans to apply for a licence to extract minerals from the ocean floor before the end of this year, its chief executive told Reuters, as nations gather in Jamaica to thrash out new rules to minimise environmental risks.
The United Nations' International Seabed Authority (ISA) is currently meeting in Kingston, Jamaica to negotiate a draft "mining code" that will regulate the collection of "polymetallic nodules" and other deep sea deposits.
