A submarine "treasure" opposes Morocco to Madrid for control of the batteries of the future

481 kilometers off the island of El Hierro, Mount Tropic sleeps at the bottom of the Atlantic. This inactive volcano, considered the geological ancestor of the Canary Islands, shelters a marine ecosystem teeming with millennia-old corals and cetaceans. But this natural sanctuary hides a colossal economic stake: its entrails contain a gigantic deposit of strategic minerals, turning this submerged peak into an object of international covetousness.

The figures revealed by the geological studies are dizzying. The site contains about 2,670 tons of tellurium, or nearly 5% of the world’s known reserves. This metal is essential for the manufacture of solar panels and electric vehicle batteries. Technical reports estimate that this deposit could allow the production of hundreds of millions of vehicles. The Geological and Mining Institute of Spain has also detected cobalt, nickel and rare earths, a market currently dominated 70% by China.

The battle for control of these resources is being played out on the field of international law. The volcano is located beyond the 200 nautical miles, in an area that officially belongs to no one. Spain tried to appropriate the site in 2014 through a request to extend its continental shelf to the UN, which remained unanswered. Morocco retaliated in 2020 by adopting two laws extending its exclusive economic zone and its continental shelf to 350 miles, incorporating the waters of the Sahara.

Rabat defends a delimitation based on equity rather than the median line, an approach that would project its sovereignty westward and encroach on the area claimed by the Canaries. While the United States and Israel are watching this mining potential with interest, exploitation remains a chimera for the time being: the extreme depth of the site makes any extraction impossible with current technologies.