Deep sea mining could destroy undiscovered species, says Ocean Panel

FILE PHOTO: David Attenborough attends the annual Chatham House award ceremony, in London, Britain November 20, 2019. REUTERS/Simon Dawson/File Photo

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Mining on the sea floor should not begin before a full assessment of likely environmental impacts can be made, a report commissioned by the High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy (Ocean Panel) said on Wednesday.

Environmentalists including Britain's David Attenborough have called for a ban on deep-seabed mining that would extract resources including copper, cobalt, nickel, zinc, lithium, and rare earth elements from nodules on the ocean floor.