Seabed mining
The increased requirement for minerals and metals used in the technology sector has led to a renewed interest in the mining of seabed mineral resources, including massive polymetallic sulfide deposits around hydrothermal vents, cobalt-rich crusts on the sides of seamounts and fields of manganese nodules on the abyssal plains.
[2] While the seabed provides a high concentration of valuable minerals, there is an unknown risk of ecological damage on marine species because of a lack of data.
There have been some viable underwater mining operations, notably the recovery of diamonds off the west coast of southern Africa.
[2] Manganese Nodules are found on the abyssal plains of the seafloor which contain a variety of useable metals including copper, cobalt and nickel which are in high demand to produce technology.
The lease covered an area of 59 square kilometres to a depth of 1,600 meters in the Bismarck Sea to extract essential resources for a period of 20 years.
[8][9] There was widespread opposition to the licensing mostly due to the lack of compensation to any local citizens and indigenous peoples for potential damages that the mining might cause.
[11] Most of the proposed collection systems would use remotely operated vehicles, which would remove deposits from the seabed using mechanical devices or pressurized water jets.
Minerals which concentrate in the seafloor deposits can be rich in metals such as copper, gold, silver, and zinc but need to be broken up for extraction and transport.
[3] Tens of thousands of square kilometers of forests are cleared for land-based mining, with it expected to increase, furthering habitat destruction and biodiversity loss.
Half of cobalt supplies come from inhumane child labour practises and the predicted intensification in the land-based extraction of metals could exacerbate human rights abuses.
Researchers are still finding new species, but a common feature of the vents is that their ecosystems thrive in conditions that would be highly hostile to most other life.
There are also concerns about the safety of the systems planned for mineral recovery, and the possible impact of accidents involving such equipment on the local and wider environment.
[1] The extraction of manganese nodules in the deep sea involve large truck sized vehicles on the seabed which can potentially destroy up to a depth of 3km on the seafloor, with the plow tracks still visible decades later.
These rare and slow to reproduce epifauna would face extinction from the habitat removal involved in mining nodules.
[27] The organisms living on the seabed can also be affected by the noise and light pollution made by the mining technology or could be dispersed or smothered in the sediment of the plumes.
[29] The International Seabed Authority is a body of the United Nations which was established in 1982 to regulate human activities on the deep-sea floor beyond the continental shelf.
It continues to develop rules for commercial mining, and as of 2016, has issued 27 contracts for mineral exploration, covering a total area of more than 1.4 million km2.
Other seabed mining operations are already proceeding within the EEZ's of nation states, usually at relatively shallow depths on the continental shelf.
UNCLOS provides the legal framework, whilst regulation and control of mineral-related activities are the responsibility of the International Seabed Authority.
[2] However, any corporation can claim access the international region if they are able to argue it benefits the common heritage of mankind and they consider marine health.
The continual lack of regulation means questions surrounding the long-term effects of seabed mining remain unresolved.
