After more than a decade of negotiations, a new round of talks to finalize a code to regulate deep-sea mining in international waters begins Monday in Jamaica, with hopes high for adoption this year.

The International Seabed Authority (ISA), an independent body established in 1994 under a UN convention, has been working since 2014 on the new rules for developing mineral resources on the ocean floor.

The huge task has gathered pace, under pressure from corporate concerns eager to cash in on the untapped minerals.

Canada's The Metals Company plans to file the first commercial mining license request in June, through its subsidiary Nori (Nauru Ocean Resources Inc.), which hopes to extract polymetallic nodules from the Pacific.

Here is a look at the proposed rules, and why they have sparked intense debate:

Under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), the ISA must both oversee any exploration or mining of........

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