Kerry MacKay reports on race to mine the abyssal plain – does it offer‘ clean green tech’, or could it signal a major threat to a little-understood habitat?
ENVIRONMENT
Deep sea mining
PART 2
Kerry MacKay reports on race to mine the abyssal plain – does it offer‘ clean green tech’, or could it signal a major threat to a little-understood habitat?
Last month, we learned what nodules are and why they are a valuable deep-sea habitat. Now, let’ s look at mining these metallic lumps... and what we can do to help our oceans.
Our lifestyles have a high demand for trace metals. They are used in smartphones, computers, AI, missiles, batteries and more... but they are difficult and expensive to mine. Nodules contain trace metals, hence, many countries and companies are already claiming rights to mine the deep-sea.
There is no single entity that governs the world’ s oceans. The International Seabed Authority( ISA) was set up by the United Nations in 1994 to regulate activities in international waters. They are creating deep-sea mining regulations, but there are major regulatory issues to be resolved.
Many countries are not members of the United Nations. The US has been fast-tracking permits to explore international waters for deep-sea minerals. China and Russia are also
moving to mine as soon as possible.
Waters within a country’ s territorial limits are controlled by that country. These cover 30-40 % of our deep seas. Japan has already started experimental mining in its waters.
Commercial deep-sea mining has not started in international waters, but exploration is well underway. Nodules are the ones grabbing the headlines, but there is also commercial interest in sulphides near hydrothermal vents, cobalt-rich crusts, and some muds.
The proposed method of deep-sea mining is by dredging or sucking up the sea floor using huge robotic equipment. This harvest would be lifted to the ocean surface, where vessels would separate the minerals from unwanted sediment. The sediments would be dumped back into the sea.
This major disturbance of the seabed, generating noise pollution and stirring up sediments, poses a huge threat to deepsea ecosystems. The processes happening there take millions of years, so deep-sea recovery will take millions of years. If they can ever recover at all.
The waste sediments dumped from vessels is of huge concern. How would continually silting out the ocean impact nutrient cycles or oxygen production? Remember, the oceans produce half the oxygen we breathe. Plankton, the foundation of ocean food webs, live in the water column too, ultimately feeding 40 % of humanity.
Even if they dump the sediment at depth, the silt can drift for miles, smothering whole ecosystems. Given that we have more than 80 % of our oceans to discover, should we destroy them before we know how amazing they are?
Our oceans are already struggling due to human activities, such as over-fishing, chemical pollution, microplastics, ocean warming and acidification. Sharks, rays and chimaera are known to frequent the areas where deep-sea mining is being proposed, yet almost two-thirds of these species are already at risk of extinction.
There is hope, however. More than 40 countries and several US states have called for a moratorium( ban) on deep-sea mining. The UK currently supports one of these moratoriums until there is sufficient scientific evidence on impacts.
The use of these metals is being sold as a way to‘ clean green tech’. But these arguments ignore the massive risks and damages caused. Studies suggest there are plenty of land-based mineral reserves to meet future demand. Plus, many new battery designs do not need trace metals.
The long-term solution that is least environmentally damaging is to recycle the materials we already have. Every electrical item contains these precious minerals. When they are properly recycled, it is more energy-efficient, quicker, and more environmentally friendly than mining new minerals from land or sea. Anything metal or electrical( whether plug or battery operated) can be recycled. Take it to your local recycling centre. Sign petitions and speak up for what is right for our oceans. Together, we can protect the deep-sea. �
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