Seabed mining

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Model of seabed mining technology Deep sea mining schematic 2.svg
Model of seabed mining technology

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. 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. [1] [2]

Contents

Resources

The varied geological and biological processes occurring in the ocean produce economically viable concentrations of a range of minerals, notably in the vicinity of hydrothermal vents, where highly concentrated fluids precipitate out their solutes on cooling. The technical and economic problems of extraction have not been overcome for most deposits. There have been some viable underwater mining operations, notably the recovery of diamonds off the west coast of southern Africa. [1]

Deposits of diamonds, iron sands with titanomagnetite and lime-soda feldspars, cobalt-rich manganese crusts, phosphorite nodules and manganese nodules are already known. The value and scarcity of rare earth elements is encouraging investigation into mining them from seabed deposits. [1] There is also potential to extract methane from gas hydrates in marine sediment on continental slopes and rises. [2]

Large quantities of gas hydrates are potentially available, as 1 m3 methane hydrate can yield 164 m3 of methane gas. However, the process is technologically complex and costly, so commercial exploitation has not yet started. Estimates of the global mass of marine methane hydrates range from about 550 to 1,146 Gt C. Reserves of gas hydrates are widely distributed in the sediment of continental slopes and rises and on land beneath polar permafrost, with an estimated 95% in continental margin deposits. [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. [3] These metals are highly sought after for the production of batteries, smartphones, electric cars, solar and wind turbines and the storage of green electricity. An electric car alone requires five to ten kilograms of cobalt. [4] The size of manganese nodules are 1 centimetre to 10 centimetres, differing in shape and surface, depending on the environment. [5]

Projects

On the Namibian west coast of southern Africa, Diamond Fields International Ltd started shallow seabed mining for diamonds in 2001. The De Beers Group continues to use specialized ships to recover diamonds from the seabed. They extracted 1.4 million carats from the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of Namibia in 2018. In 2019, De Beers commissioned a new ship which is expected to improve productivity by a factor of two. [6]

The Papua New Guinea (PNG) government granted a 'exploration' license to Nautilus Minerals Ltd. (Nautilus) for the 'Solwara 1' project in January 2011. It was the first exploration license for the deep sea. Whilst the project did not go ahead due to Nautilus declaring bankruptcy, the project provided a basis for how legal framework might develop. 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. Nautilus sought to extract a total of 1.3 tons of materials, including 80,000 tons of high-grade copper and 150,000 to 200,000 ounces of gold sulphide ore over the course of 3 years. [7] Considering that the PNG economy heavily relies on mining, PNG had a strong interest in the success of Solwara 1and purchased a 30% stake, later costing them over $120 million (USD) in losses. [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. [10]

Technology

Seabed mining proposals are all based on the similar concept of a seabed resource collector, a lifting system and surface vessels which may process the material offshore or transport ores to land based facilities. [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. [2] Robotic excavation machinery were built to work on deposits in the Solwara 1 Project. This included a bulk cutter to break up the surface rock, a collecting machine to act like a suction dredger by pumping the fragments to the lift pump. This would transfer the material to a ship at the surface which would transport the material to a site to be processed. These are massive machines which maneuver around the seabed on caterpillar tracks. 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. [12] [13] Natural gas would be extracted from reservoirs of gas hydrate by injecting chemical inhibitors, depressurising the reservoir, or increasing the temperature. [2]

Impact

Positive

There is potential for positive economic impact for the mining industries involved, the industries that need the available minerals, and for the countries with EEZ's in which the deposits are located. [1]

Seabed mining has been advocated as an alternative to land-based mining. Land-based mining is known to have a destructive impact through contribution to toxic wastewater, soil contamination and deforestation. [14] In China and Indonesia the waste from lithium, graphite and silicon destroyed villages and ecosystems. There has also been major acid mine drainage issues in America. [15] Land-based mining also produces over 350 billion tonnes of waste and has a major carbon footprint. [3] It accounts for 11% of global energy, compared to an estimated 1% in seabed mining. [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. [16] Some studies have shown that the deep sea has the lowest biomass environments on the planet. [3] The Clarion Clipperton Zone has 300 times less biomass than average biome on land and up to 3000 times less compared to rainforest regions where most land mines are located. [3] The life that does exist is 70% bacteria, and most organisms are smaller than 4cm. [3] Ultimately there is still inadequate data to confirm these studies.

The deep sea especially provides minerals in high demand for new green technology. This cannot be met by current recycling schemes and to keep up with intensified demand, production of these minerals would need to increase by nearly 500% by 2050. [17] The deep sea is much more economical than land based sources as metal ores on land yield below 20%, often using less than 2%, whilst seabed nodules are 99% usable minerals. [15]

There is also a reduced social cost to the nations with seabed deposits compared to nations with land-based mines, as sea bed mining has little cost on human life due to its distance from land hazards. Land mines have a large association with deaths and injuries and the financial cost of these. Land mining is the second-most harmful industry to human health, with estimated nearly 7 million people at risk from the toxic waste land mining produces and a death toll of more than 15,000 miners every year. [18] [19] There is a range of financial cost depending on a nations valuation of the cost of human life. For example, in South Africa, 143 deaths in 2 years of mining cost $150 million dollars. [20] Often, vulnerable populations are more affected as workers are typically underprivileged people or children in developing countries. 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. [15] There is also issues with the practise of building mines on indigenous lands, but indigenous inhabitants often do not have the resources to fight big companies. [21] Seabed mining as an alternative source causes no cultural disruption. Mining companies have also offered 'benefit sharing' to the nations who provide them with contracts to mine within their EEZ. [22] This can include the provision of employment and training, infrastructure development, direct community investment and payments to the government as compensation to the local communities. Infrastructure development could provide access to electricity and clean water or development of roads, schools, and hospitals. [22] The practise of redistributing benefits is up to the discretion of the companies and nations involved in the projects as there are currently no guidelines.

Negative

There is also the potential for severe environmental impact to sensitive and unique ecosystems through seabed disturbance and deposits of disturbed material on downstream regions. Interest in mining possibilities is providing impetus for scientific study of the deposits and the mechanisms of their formation. Biologists are concerned about the little known communities of exotic life forms which could be destroyed before they are studied. There is still insufficient research to make predictions with confidence. [1]

In the case of deposits around hydrothermal vents, each vent discharges a unique mix of solutes and therefore each vent is colonized by a different combination of life forms. 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. The study of these species could provide insights into the evolution of terrestrial 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. [23] [24] Some studies have suggested that the microbiology would need over 50 years to return to their undisturbed initial state. [25] Contracts to explore for manganese nodules are typically only for areas up to 75,000km2, but the total area affected is estimated to be between 200 and 600km2 impacting a much larger marine ecosystem. [24] These mining vehicles emit plumes of sediment which would transport sediment to a greater distance from the site. [24] The seabed also has a much slower recovery potential as nodules only grow few tens of millimeters per million years. [26] Epifauna is the wildlife that depends on the nodules and the habitat they produce through their substrate. Following the mining of the nodules, the substrate on the nodules will not return for millions of years until new nodules are formed. 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. [28]

Ultimately, the remoteness and complexity of the seabed make it difficult for scholars to obtain definitive research results. [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. [2]

The jurisdiction governing human activity in the ocean is zoned by distance from land. A coastal state's has full jurisdiction over 12 nautical miles (22 km) of territorial sea, in accordance with the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), [30] which includes the air space, the water column and the subsoil. Coastal states also have exclusive rights and jurisdiction over the resources within their 200 nautical miles (370 km) EEZ. Some states also have sovereign rights over the seabed and any mineral resources over an extended continental shelf beyond the EEZ. Further offshore is the area beyond national jurisdiction, which covers both the seabed and the water column above it. UNCLOS designates this region as the common heritage of mankind. UNCLOS provides the legal framework, whilst regulation and control of mineral-related activities are the responsibility of the International Seabed Authority. UNCLOS Article 136 covers the common heritage of mankind, Article 137 covers the resources within the common area and Article 145 covers the protection of the marine environment in areas beyond national jurisdiction. [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. Most seabed mining occurs within a EEZ so companies are mostly concerned with national jurisdiction matters. With the advancement of technology, companies are looking to move outside of EEZ's, requiring ISA permission. States must also ensure that deep-sea mining activities do not damage other states and their environment, meaning that the locally produced pollution cannot spread beyond the zones under state jurisdiction.

Nauru Case

In June 2021, the president of Nauru stressed the urgency of finalizing regulations for mining in international waters to the council of the International Seabed Authority. [31]

The International Seabed Authority has been working on the Mining Code, regulations governing commercial mining of the deep seafloor, since 2014 and was scheduled to publish them in 2020. Nauru's request triggered a "2-year rule" which compels the authority to have finalised the rules by July 2023 or accept applications for exploitation in the absence of formal guidelines. The rules still have not been finalised, but the ISA council has agreed to attempt to complete a set of formal rules by 2025. [32] The Metals Company who is seeking to mine in Nauru has since agreed to not submit another mining application until July 2024, allowing the ISA four more sessions to work on regulation. [33] The case has led to at least 21 nations along with activists to call for a moratorium until more research is completed. [32] France is the only nation to call for a ban on deep sea mining whilst the UK, Norway and China have pushed for deep sea mining. The US have also introduced bills calling for a moratorium in both their own EEZ and international waters. The continual lack of regulation means questions surrounding the long-term effects of seabed mining remain unresolved. [31]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">International Seabed Authority</span> Intergovernmental body to regulate mineral-related activities on the seabed

The International Seabed Authority (ISA) is a Kingston, Jamaica-based intergovernmental body of 167 member states and the European Union established under the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and its 1994 Agreement on Implementation. The ISA's dual mission is to authorize and control development of mineral related operations in the international seabed considered the "common heritage of all mankind" and also protect the ecosystem of the seabed, ocean floor and subsoil in "The Area" beyond national jurisdiction. The ISA is to safeguard the international deep sea, the waters below 200 meters or 656 feet, where photosynthesis is hampered by inadequate light. Governing approximately half of the total area of the world's oceans, the ISA is to exercise oversight of activities that might threaten biological diversity and harm the marine environment. The Authority operates as an autonomous international organization with its own Assembly, Council and Secretariat.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ore</span> Rock with valuable metals, minerals and elements

Ore is natural rock or sediment that contains one or more valuable minerals concentrated above background levels, typically containing metals, that can be mined, treated and sold at a profit. The grade of ore refers to the concentration of the desired material it contains. The value of the metals or minerals a rock contains must be weighed against the cost of extraction to determine whether it is of sufficiently high grade to be worth mining and is therefore considered an ore. A complex ore is one containing more than one valuable mineral.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea</span> International maritime law

The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), also called the Law of the Sea Convention or the Law of the Sea Treaty, is an international agreement that establishes a legal framework for all marine and maritime activities. As of May 2023, 168 countries and the European Union are parties.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Manganese nodule</span> Mineral concretion on the sea bottom made of concentric layers of iron/manganese hydroxides

Polymetallic nodules, also called manganese nodules, are mineral concretions on the sea bottom formed of concentric layers of iron and manganese hydroxides around a core. As nodules can be found in vast quantities, and contain valuable metals, deposits have been identified as a potential economic interest. Depending on their composition and autorial choice, they may also be called ferromanganese nodules. Ferromanganese nodules are mineral concretions composed of silicates and insoluble iron and manganese oxides that form on the ocean seafloor and terrestrial soils. The formation mechanism involves a series of redox oscillations driven by both abiotic and biotic processes. As a byproduct of pedogenesis, the specific composition of a ferromanganese nodule depends on the composition of the surrounding soil. The formation mechanisms and composition of the nodules allow for couplings with biogeochemical cycles beyond iron and manganese. The high relative abundance of nickel, copper, manganese, and other rare metals in nodules has increased interest in their use as a mining resource.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hydrothermal vent</span> Fissure in a planets surface from which heated water emits

Hydrothermal vents are fissures on the seabed from which geothermally heated water discharges. They are commonly found near volcanically active places, areas where tectonic plates are moving apart at mid-ocean ridges, ocean basins, and hotspots. The dispersal of hydrothermal fluids throughout the global ocean at active vent sites creates hydrothermal plumes. Hydrothermal deposits are rocks and mineral ore deposits formed by the action of hydrothermal vents.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Law of the sea</span> International law concerning maritime environments

Law of the sea is a body of international law governing the rights and duties of states in maritime environments. It concerns matters such as navigational rights, sea mineral claims, and coastal waters jurisdiction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Seabed</span> The bottom of the ocean

The seabed is the bottom of the ocean. All floors of the ocean are known as 'seabeds'.

Marine geology or geological oceanography is the study of the history and structure of the ocean floor. It involves geophysical, geochemical, sedimentological and paleontological investigations of the ocean floor and coastal zone. Marine geology has strong ties to geophysics and to physical oceanography.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mining in Japan</span> Overview of mining in Japan

Mining in Japan is minimal because Japan does not possess many on-shore mineral resources. Many of the on-shore minerals have already been mined to the point that it has become less expensive to import minerals. There are small deposits of coal, oil, iron and minerals in the Japanese archipelago. Japan is scarce in critical natural resources and has been heavily dependent on imported energy and raw materials. There are major deep sea mineral resources in the seabed of Japan. This is not mined yet due to technological obstacles for deep sea mining.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Institute of Ocean Technology</span> Scientific organization in Tamil Nadu

The National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) was established in November 1993 as an autonomous society under the Ministry of Earth Sciences in India. NIOT is managed by a Governing Council and is headed by a director. The institute is based in Chennai. The major aim of starting NIOT was to develop reliable indigenous technologies to solve various engineering problems associated with harvesting of non-living and living resources in India's exclusive economic zone, which is about two-thirds of the land area of India.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Seafloor massive sulfide deposits</span> Mineral deposits from seafloor hydrothermal vents

Seafloor massive sulfide deposits or SMS deposits, are modern equivalents of ancient volcanogenic massive sulfide ore deposits or VMS deposits. The term has been coined by mineral explorers to differentiate the modern deposit from the ancient.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Deep sea mining</span> Mineral extraction from the ocean floor

Deep sea mining is the extraction of minerals from the ocean floor at depths of 200 metres (660 ft) to 6,500 metres (21,300 ft).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marine sediment</span> Accumulated material on seafloor

Marine sediment, or ocean sediment, or seafloor sediment, are deposits of insoluble particles that have accumulated on the seafloor. These particles either have their origins in soil and rocks and have been transported from the land to the sea, mainly by rivers but also by dust carried by wind and by the flow of glaciers into the sea, or they are biogenic deposits from marine organisms or from chemical precipitation in seawater, as well as from underwater volcanoes and meteorite debris.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Natural resource economics</span> Supply, demand and allocation of the Earths natural resources

Natural resource economics deals with the supply, demand, and allocation of the Earth's natural resources. One main objective of natural resource economics is to better understand the role of natural resources in the economy in order to develop more sustainable methods of managing those resources to ensure their availability for future generations. Resource economists study interactions between economic and natural systems, with the goal of developing a sustainable and efficient economy.

Nii Allotey Odunton, a mining engineer from Ghana, was the Secretary-General of the International Seabed Authority, serving consecutive four-year terms starting in 2009 and ending in 2017.

Nautilus Minerals Inc. was a Canadian deep sea exploration and mining company founded in 1997, and listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange between 2007 and 2019. The company was known for Solwara-1, the first deep sea mining project, an attempt to explore and mine a mineral deposit on the seabed off the coast of Papua New Guinea. By 2019, the company had faced bankruptcy and was delisted due to long-standing environmental concerns about the project and financial turmoil, resulting in its assets being owned by Deep Sea Mining Finance Limited.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clarion-Clipperton Zone</span> Fracture zone of the Pacific Ocean seabed

The Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ) or Clarion-Clipperton Fracture Zone is an environmental management area of the Pacific Ocean, administered by the International Seabed Authority (ISA). It includes the Clarion Fracture Zone and the Clipperton Fracture Zone, geological submarine fracture zones. Clarion and Clipperton are two of the five major lineations of the northern Pacific floor, and were discovered by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in 1954. The CCZ is regularly considered for deep-sea mining due to the abundant presence of manganese nodules.

The Metals Company, formerly DeepGreen Metals, is a Canadian deep sea mining exploration company. The company focuses on the mining of polymetallic (manganese) nodules.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Deepsea mining in Namibia</span> Deep sea mining in Namibia

Namibia is one of the first countries that issued mining licences regarding deep sea mining. studies that took place in 1970s discovered considerable amounts of phosphate deposits. The significance of seabed mining in Namibia's blue economy is highlighted by the country's status as a "phosphate factory". This is due to the exceptional upwellings of the Benguela Current ecosystem, a transboundary ocean current that spans from South Africa in the south to Angola in the north, passing through Namibia. Those deposits were found in depths between 180 and 300 meters below the sea level. In 2011 the Namibian government issued licences regarding the exploitation of the seabed phosphate resources after the necessary Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs). The action plan that stood out was that of Namibian Marine Phosphates (NMP), a joint venture formed in 2008 between two Australian-based companies, Minemakers and Union Resources and Namibian-based Tungeni Investments. The so-called Sandpiper phosphate mining project outlay was introduced in January 2012 along with environmental reports regarding the effect this operation would have on marine life as well as the fishing industry and water quality changes. Those phosphorite resources are being found in continental shelves and slopes in America, Northern Spain, Morocco, Namibia, and South Africa which show a high potential for exploration.

On 25 June 2021, the president of Nauru, Lionel Aingimea, made a formal request to the president of the International Seabed Authority's (ISA) council to complete the adoption of rules, regulations and procedures necessary to facilitate the approval of plans of work for exploitation of deep-sea resources in the Area. This request is based on the "2-year rule", which is part of a provision from the 1994 Agreement relating to the Implementation of Part XI of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. The provision can be found in section 1 of the annex, and it states that the ISA must complete the adoption of rules, regulations and procedures for the approval of the exploitation of deep-sea minerals within 2 years of the request. The ISA's current deadline for drafting new regulation is set in July 2023, although some claim that this is not a "hard" or "fixed" deadline. Due to the issue's complexity, negotiations have thus far failed to come to a concrete agreement. Even if it fails to set clear standards for deep-sea mining activities, the ISA must consider applications for exploitation in waters outside national jurisdictions and provisionally approve contracts after July 2023. Many experts fear that deep-sea mining activities that are not adequately regulated could significantly impact the marine environment, the economies of many nations and the livelihoods of indigenous groups who depend on the oceans for survival.

References

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  31. 1 2 Duncombe, Jenessa (24 January 2022). "The 2-Year Countdown to Deep-Sea Mining". Archived from the original on 14 September 2022. Retrieved 14 September 2022.
  32. 1 2 Mehta, Angeli (3 August 2023). "Policy Watch: After fraught global meeting, future of deep-sea mining still hangs in balance". Reuters. Retrieved 12 December 2023.
  33. ↑ "TMC Announces Corporate Update on Expected Timeline, Application Costs and Production Capacity Following Part II of the 28th Session of the International Seabed Authority". The Metals Company. 1 August 2023. Retrieved 12 December 2023.
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