The Madrid Protocol prohibits Antarctic mining
After the negotiated minerals convention collapses, the consultative parties sign a protocol designating Antarctica a natural reserve devoted to peace and science and banning mineral resource activity other than research. It enters into force in January 1998. The fifty-year review provision it contains is the source of the widely repeated and incorrect claim that the ban expires in 2048.
Historical — it happened, and the record is settled.
Subjects
- Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty (Madrid Protocol, 1991) · treaty · Antarctic Treaty area · not located
- The Antarctic Treaty (1959) · treaty · All land and ice shelves south of 60 degrees south · not located
Evidence
Partly verified — Core facts are sourced; some optional detail is deliberately absent.
Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty
The Protocol designates Antarctica a natural reserve devoted to peace and science and prohibits any activity relating to mineral resources other than scientific research; it provides that a review conference may be requested after fifty years from entry into force, which is the provision commonly and wrongly reported as an expiry of the mining ban in 2048. V55 VERIFICATION BASIS: as above - no source was opened during production. Article numbering is deliberately not quoted in this record because it was not checked.
Secretariat of the Antarctic Treaty · 1991-10-04 (signed); in force January 1998 · Partly verified
Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty, Madrid, 4 October 1991; text published by the Secretariat of the Antarctic Treaty at https://www.ats.aq/e/protocol.html
Recorded on Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty (Madrid Protocol, 1991)
- The Antarctic Treaty is signed at Washington
- The Antarctic Treaty enters into force
- The Madrid Protocol prohibits Antarctic mining
- The Madrid Protocol becomes open to a review conference
Related
Related because they share a subject in the Atlas — never because the text looks similar.
- The Madrid Protocol becomes open to a review conference · 2048 (earliest possible review)
- The Antarctic Treaty enters into force · 1961-06-23
- The Antarctic Treaty is signed at Washington · 1959-12-01