The technology to dig it up is advancing rapidly, making it cheaper to extract those raw materials. Even better, it doesn’t create any ugly mines on the land, it doesn’t involve cutting down forests or digging up farmland, and it doesn’t take up any space that we might use for houses, or cities, or indeed for wind or solar farms. 

Indeed, we have been extracting oil and gas from underneath the sea for a couple of generations now, and generating lots of energy and wealth in the process. There does not seem to be any very obvious reason why we should not do the same for minerals as well.

That doesn’t mean we should abandon all caution. As governments around the world have stressed, deep sea mining will have to be monitored so that we can make sure it does not disturb delicate ecosystems, or destroy reefs, or damage what has until now been a largely pristine environment. 

And yet, it is also becoming increasingly clear that most of the opposition is being driven by the usual anti-growth coalition of environmentalists and green campaigners. 

The main campaigns against it come from the likes of Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth. It is hard to think of any form of industrial development they would be in favor of. If it involves diggers and drills, they are automatically against it.

The rest of the world will, of course, move ahead without us. China, inevitably, is taking the lead, and will no doubt use its deep sea mines to consolidate the country’s already significant lead in batteries, solar power and electric vehicles.

We can be sure that China will have all the minerals it needs, and will be quietly amused if its Western rivals prefer not to mine them. Meanwhile, countries such as the United States and Australia are, so far, sitting on the sidelines. At the very least they are waiting to see what happens before joining a ban.