Abstract: The Regulations on the Exploitation of Mineral Resources in the Area are under negotiation focusing the environmental protection and preservation. In 2019, in a written submission to the International Seabed Authority, Germany proposed the addition of a test mining clause requiring contractors to conduct test mining prior to commercial mining. As the demand during the transition from exploration stage to exploitation stage, test mining plays a validating role in mining technology, economy and environmental impact assessment. However, though China follows the western developed countries in the process of deep-sea mining, it’s technical maturity is weak. It is important for China to actively respond to the requirements of test mining and verify the economic, technical and environmental impact in the test mining in order to cross the environmental threshold and become the first contractors entering the commercial deep-sea mining. Thus, it is necessary for China to develop vigorously deep-sea key technologies, strengthen deep-sea environmental scientific research, participate in the formulation of environmental rules, and achieve the balance between deep-sea mineral resources development and environmental protection.