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The deep oceans span more than half the globe and their frigid depths have long been known to contain vast, untapped deposits of prized minerals. These treasures of the abyss, however, have always been out of reach to miners.
But now, the era of deep seabed mining appears to be dawning fueled by technological advances in robotics and dwindling land-based deposits. Rising demand for copper, cobalt, gold and the rare-earth elements vital in manufacturing smartphones and other high-tech products is causing a prospecting rush to the dark seafloor thousands of meters (yards) beneath the waves.
[...] A group of international scientists, in a [paywalled for some] July 9 article in the journal Science, urged [UN agency] ISA to temporarily halt authorization of new mining contracts until networks of "marine protected areas" are established around areas targeted for mining.
"We owe it to future generations to ensure that we think before we act and gain a thorough understanding of the potential impacts of mining in the deep sea before any mining is permitted," said Matthew Gianni, co-founder of the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition, which sent observers to ISA's 21st session in Kingston.
But despite the warnings, in recent days ISA authorized its latest exploration contract, a 72,745 square kilometer (28,087 sq. mile) permit in the Pacific to China Minmetals Corp., sponsored by Beijing. China now has the most permits from the U.N. body with four.
[...] "The terrestrial industrial revolution happened before we had the tools to manage goals for development and goals for sustaining biodiversity. You can't really blame people in the 1700s for the damage they did to the environment..." he said. "But we certainly are to blame if we don't do seabed mining properly."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 27 2015, @01:50AM
How so? The deep ocean basins surfaces are 2-5 miles down, well below the photic zone. While there is some stuff down there, its nowhere near the level of biodiversity and biodensity that you have on land. How could it be any worse than wiping out some rainforest on land for building a mine? The ocean basins are so vast as well, that mining operations at any time would effect such a small portion of them that it would not have any existential impact on the ecosystem down there. Furthermore, there are very, very likely ways that any biological systems that happen to be there can be protected, that any animal that might be down there can be moved. Whats down there is not very extensive, mostly some bottom feeders that rely on what floats down there from higher up in the water column. Your not going to find any coral reeds 3 miles under water. Since this would reduce the mining on land, it would be a net environmental benefit, greatly reducing overall impacts. To sacrifice a rainforest in order to stop mining a relatively barren ocean basin is total insanity.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 27 2015, @01:56AM
By the way I am not against having a plan to move any animals, probably some thing could be created to pick them up and place them somewhere else. The mining is likely only a temporary disturbance as well. The problem is that environmental nuts would try to just hold up for a hundred years beyond reason when this is far less ecologically devastating than mining on land.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 27 2015, @03:11PM
Upon reading the article closely, the mining on the abyssal plains, which are flat, is of little concern, its such a vast area that the environmental zone type is not highly dependant on a small locale, it would be hard to argue would be deeply concerning, though I would agree there is concern about mining around hydrothermal vents, as the communities there are more geographically concentrated and found in a smaller area, and there is more biodiversity at that spot. While mining the vast abyssal plains away from the expansion ridges where many hydrothermal vents are is of far less concern than mining around the hydrothermal vents, the mining around the vents deserves scrutiny.