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Greenpeace could be thrown out of the UN body overseeing controversial plans to begin deep-sea mining.
One mining company claims the campaign group disrupted a research expedition in the remote Pacific.
Member states of the UN’s International Seabed Association could choose to strip Greenpeace of its observer status within the group.
Greenpeace says the incident in question was a peaceful protest aimed at protecting a pristine ecosystem.
The mining company involved, The Metals Company, accuses Greenpeace of being “anti-science”.
It is the latest salvo in a long-running battle over access to a trove of hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of metals lying on the surface of the seabed in some parts of the deep ocean.
Green campaigners say it will cause terrible damage to one of the few remaining ecosystems on Earth untouched by humanity.
The metals the companies want to exploit have built up over tens of millions of years into potato-sized lumps, known as polymetallic nodules.
Mining companies say the copper, cobalt, nickel and manganese they contain are crucial battery metals.
The International Energy Agency forecasts demand for these metals will soar as the world continues the effort to transition towards a low-carbon economy.
Green campaigners say there are sufficient supplies of the metals on land and no ocean mining
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