On-going trade wars combined with the increasing consumption and depletion of known resources will necessitate the search for new deposits in poorly explored or unexplored areas, such as the polar regions. Antarctica is particular among the world's continents in that it has no native population and state sovereignty; the continent has also been identified as potentially harboring extensive hydrocarbon and mineral resources. In order to protect the fragile environment of Antarctic, the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty (1991) banned all mineral activities for a 50-year period, except for scientific purposes. The Protocol will be renewed in 2048, and discussion of possible future mining in the region has already begun. With the improvement of drilling and mining technology, the risk of future mining activity on the continent is increasing. Moreover, extensive mining operations in the Arctic demonstrate the technical and economic feasibility of mining activities in harsh polar environments. The conservation of the fragile environment of Antarctic must be prioritized and some considerations of renewal of the Protocol on Environmental Protection are discussed in this paper.

持续的贸易战加上不断增加的消费和已知资源的枯竭，将有必要在极地地区等开发不足或未开发的地区寻找新的矿床。南极洲在世界各大洲中的特殊之处在于它没有土著居民和国家主权；该大陆还被确定为潜在地蕴藏着广泛的碳氢化合物和矿产资源。为了保护南极脆弱的环境，《南极条约(1991) 禁止所有矿产活动 50 年，科学目的除外。该协议将于 2048 年更新，关于该地区未来可能的采矿的讨论已经开始。随着钻井和采矿技术的进步，非洲大陆未来采矿活动的风险正在增加。此外，北极广泛的采矿作业证明了在恶劣的极地环境中采矿活动的技术和经济可行性。必须优先保护南极脆弱的环境，本文讨论了更新《环境保护议定书》的一些考虑。