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Deep sea mining is the extraction of minerals from the seabed of the deep sea. The main ores of commercial interest are polymetallic nodules , which are found at depths of 4–6 km (2.5–3.7 mi) primarily on the abyssal plain .
Seabed mining, also known as Seafloor mining [1] is the recovery of minerals from the seabed by techniques of underwater mining. The concept includes mining at shallow depths on the continental shelf and deep-sea mining at greater depths associated with tectonic activity, hydrothermal vents and the abyssal plains .
Very little is known about deep sea ecosystems or the potential impacts of deep-sea mining. Polymetallic nodule fields are hotspots of abundance and diversity for a highly vulnerable abyssal fauna, much of which lives attached to nodules or in the sediment immediately beneath it.
Deep sea mining involves removing mineral deposits and metals from the ocean’s seabed. There are three types of such mining: taking deposit-rich polymetallic nodules off the ocean floor, mining ...
The International Seabed Authority is working to set regulations for deep-sea mining as companies engaged in the clean energy transition clamor for more minerals. The seafloor, especially in parts ...
TMC has acknowledged that deep sea mining will have an environmental impact, but it is less damaging than terrestrial mining, and trade-offs are required to guarantee transition mineral supplies.
What is known makes clear that many aspects of deep-sea mining activity would endanger species in the Clarion–Clipperton zone; they face threats of being crushed by machinery, dispelled in sediment plumes, smothered by unsettled sediment, the loss of resources and habitat, etc.
However, companies have argued that deep sea mining is cheaper and has less of an impact than land mining. Most of the current exploration is focused in the Clarion-Clipperton Fracture Zone, which ...