Federal fisheries minister said the decision to back the moratorium was due to a lack of a strong regulatory regime and a poor understanding of the comprehensive impacts.
Lawyers for Prateek Gupta said that Trafigura employees had proposed an arrangement to agree contracts for the sale of nickel but in fact to trade other material.
As the International Seabed Authority meets in Kingston this week, it will be writing rules for deep sea mining that threatens the very ecosystems in need of preservation.