Part 5/9:
The International Seabed Authority, established by the United Nations in 1994, oversees mineral extraction activities in international waters. While licenses for mining operations are still pending approval, exploratory missions have been granted to assess nodule distributions, primarily in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ) near Mexico. This area is projected to generate about 1.5 million tons of wet nodules annually, potentially supporting the battery needs of hundreds of thousands of electric vehicles.