No, they meant the Arctic. The sea ice covering the Arctic has a natural cycle of growth and retreat with the seasons, but the overall trend in the last decade is one of unprecedented decline. This has led countries like Russia, Canada, and the US to start arguing about who gets access to the hydrocarbons, rare earth, and other resources that will be accessible as the thawing continues.

From a greenhouse perspective this is an incredibly dangerous situation because Arctic ice reflects a great deal of sunlight. Without that ice, the atmosphere will absorb more heat from the sun.

You could interpret surface as ocean surface, but then the parent talks of mining metals. So I don't think they really do mean the Arctic. But I agree with you about how silly it is that global warming is going to enable hydrocarbon extraction in the Arctic and thus more global warming. Us humans are really bad at long term collective good type of planning.

The Arctic includes parts of Alaska, Russia, Greenland, and Scandinavia. It’s not just ocean. Greenland’s ice cap is melting too, and China (for one) is very interested in mining there.

https://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/19/science/earth/arctic-reso...