Talks On Divisive Deep-sea Mining Resume In Jamaica

Polymetallic nodules grow with the help of microbes over millions of years around a kernel of organic matter, such as a shark's tooth or the ear-bone of a whale (Credit: AFP)

Several countries united with campaign groups Monday to call for caution in regulating the divisive practice of deep-sea mining at a meeting on the issue in Jamaica.

Members of the International Seabed Authority (ISA) are meeting in Kingston to thrash out the first mining code on deep-sea extraction that has faced accusations of imperiling marine ecosystems.