Gerard Barron

New Capabilities

Pursuing commercial mining license for CCZ nodules

Scientists have identified 24 new species of amphipod crustaceans in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone, a stretch of Pacific seabed the size of the United States that sits at the center of a global fight over deep-sea mining. Among the discoveries is an entirely new superfamily of life — Mirabestioidea — representing a previously unknown evolutionary branch. It is the taxonomic equivalent of discovering a new order of mammals.

Updated Mar 25

Rule Changes

Pursuing first commercial deep-sea mining permits

A five-year research expedition has cataloged 788 species living 4,000 meters beneath the Pacific Ocean—90% of them previously unknown to science—just as the race to mine the same seabed accelerates. The study, published in February 2026, documents a 37% decline in animal abundance wherever mining equipment touched the seafloor, offering the first systematic look at what commercial extraction would destroy.

Updated Feb 7