Use of English - Multiple Choice

Deep-Sea Mining

For years, deep-sea mining was treated as a speculative frontier, discussed more in policy circles than in boardrooms. That has now changed. With governments anxious to secure supplies of critical minerals, and investors keen to avoid being left (0) BEHIND, the industry has begun to acquire an air of inevitability. Yet the socio-economic case for mining the ocean floor is far from cut and dried. Proponents argue that extracting cobalt, nickel and manganese from seabed deposits could (1) .......... pressure on terrestrial mining, create new revenue streams for coastal states and reduce strategic dependence on a handful of supplier nations. Critics, however, contend that such claims rest on heroic assumptions and may simply (2) .......... over the distributive consequences. Even if the sector proves commercially viable, the benefits are unlikely to be evenly (3) .......... . Countries with the legal expertise, capital and processing capacity may capture most of the gains, while poorer states are left to settle for royalties that barely (4) .......... the surface. Meanwhile, communities whose livelihoods depend indirectly on marine stability may find themselves bearing costs that never appear on a balance sheet. In that sense, the debate is not merely about geology or engineering, but about who gets to (5) .......... the terms of development. Unless regulators can devise rules that command broad legitimacy, the industry may yet become a political liability rather than the economic (6) .......... its advocates promise. For all the rhetoric about innovation, there is a real risk that deep-sea mining will (7) .......... existing inequalities instead of alleviating them, while locking vulnerable economies (8) .......... another extractive model.