Rare metals found on seabeds could be key to green technology, but mining them could wreak ecological havoc on the ocean floor

Elias ChavezJul 22, 2023, 20:40 IST

The Metals Company CEO, Gerard Barron, stands in front of a large mound of polymetallic nodules.Insider

The ocean floor has billions of tons of rocks filled with important rare metals used for green technology.
But a growing list of countries and corporations are calling for a moratorium on deep-sea mining.

An international organization missed an important deadline this month to decide whether or not to allow deep-sea mining by commercial businesses.

The International Seabed Authority missed its July 9 deadline to approve a set of rules and regulations for deep-sea mining. The missed deadline leaves the door open for companies to apply for mining licenses without proper regulations put in place. Representatives of the agency gathered for a two-week meeting in Kingston, Jamaica, to discuss the future of deep-sea mining.

The meeting, set to end on July 30, comes amid several countries calling for a moratorium on deep-sea mining, as well as corporations like BMW, Volvo, and Samsung. To date, the ISA has issued licenses for exploration only, creating regulations for 31 exploration contracts.

"The seabeds have taken thousands of years to form, and the damage will be irreparable on similar timescales," Lise Øvreås, a microbial ecologist and professor at the University of Bergen in Norway, said in a statement released by the European Academies Science Advisory Council.

The two-week conference ends at the end of the month, and the decision that comes out could impact the seabed biomes for generations to come.

On the ocean floor, there are small rocks known as polymetallic nodules.

A view of a collection of polymetallic nodules on the ocean floorIN

These nodules are rich in minerals like nickel, copper, manganese, and cobalt, which are used to make electric car batteries, wind turbines, and solar panels.

A Metals Company employee holding a handful of nodulesInsider

One of the most abundant polymetallic nodule fields is in the Clarion-Clipperton zone in the Pacific Ocean.

A map of the projected nodule deposits in the Clarion-Clipperton ZonePew Charitable Trust

The Metals Company is the first to attempt a mining expedition on the seabed.

A researcher looks at a digital scan of various nodules.Insider

The Metals Company sends a 90-ton collector vehicle to the ocean floor to vacuum up the nodules.

The Metals Company lowering their collector vehicle into the ocean.Insider

The vehicle is operated from a control room onboard the ship.

The control room onboard the Hidden Gem, the ship of TMC.Insider

On the ship, a whirlpool uses gravity to separate nodules from sediment.

A whirlpool on The Hidden Gem used to separate rocks and sediment.Insider

The initial harvest collected by TMC's ship was roughly 3,000 metric tons of nodules.

Barron stands atop the pile of nodules collected from the bottom of the ocean.Insider

Some of the metals found in the nodules on the sea floor are also collected via dangerous mining practices.

Children working in a cobalt mine.Insider

Compared to conventional terrestrial mining, deep-sea mining poses fewer risks to people and the environment, TMC CEO Gerard Barron said.

Tailings from a mining operation draining into a body of water.One Earth: Journal of hazardous materials

Many experts say more research is needed to understand the effects of mining the ocean.

Two researchers put nodule samples into a sample bag.Insider

Despite its purported advantages for surface mining, not everyone supports the alternative of mining the deep sea.

Two demonstrators in Kayaks hold a sign that reads "stop deep sea mining"Greenpeace

Videos from activist groups showed leaked footage of The Metals Company spilling sediment back into the ocean.

A screenshot of the leaked footage of the purported wastewater being released into the ocean, per activists.Greenpeace/Mining Watch Canada/ Deep Sea Mining Campaign

The process of deep-sea mining creates clouds of sediment above the normally clear seabed.

A cloud of dirt and sediment filtering in over a bed of nodules.Insider

Researchers have found 5,000 new species in the Clarion-Clipperton zone, the same area being targeted by The Metal Company.

A deep sea creature on the sea floorDeep CCZ Project

Many of these species haven't been observed anywhere else on Earth, like this deep-sea octopus.

A small, white octopus on the ocean floor.NOAA Ocean Exploration

There are also other creatures in the depths, like this creature with 7-foot-long tentacles attached to a sponge star, which is stuck on a nodule.

An deep sea creature with thin seven foot long tentacles.Deep CCZ project

A few species use nodules to anchor themselves to the ocean floor and will lose their habitat and life without them.

A deep sea creature attached to a nodule on the sea floor.DeepCCZ Project

The International Energy Agency said the world needs to harvest four times as many metals as it does now to avoid the worst effects of climate change.

A bag of nodules.Insider.

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