Oil, gas and mining

Could Deep-Sea Mining Fix The Global Minerals Shortage?



There are billions of tons and billions of dollars worth of critical minerals at the bottom of the ocean, including nickel, copper, cobalt and manganese. These metals are vital to electric vehicle batteries and the clean energy transition as a whole. But the debate over whether or not to extract them has become a global controversy, as many fear the potential ecological disruptions it could cause in a part of our planet that remains largely unexplored. What’s more, international regulations for deep-sea mining have yet to be finalized, and the United Nations-affiliated regulatory agency in charge, the International Seabed Authority, recently missed a key deadline to do so.

In the midst of this uncertainly, The Metals Company is forging ahead. The company plans to submit a mining application next year and begin extraction by 2025. But considering the absence of global governance, many remain concerned that this timeline is too aggressive. Major corporations including Google and Samsung, alongside automakers BMW, Volkswagen, Volvo, Renault and Rivian have lined up against deep-sea mining – promising not to source minerals from the ocean until the scientific uncertainties are addressed, and regulations are in place.

CORRECTION: At 5:43 we misstate the name of The Metals Company’s project area that is ranked as having the largest undeveloped nickel deposit in the world, and encompasses nearly 29,000 square miles of seafloor. This area is called NORI. NORI-D is a smaller subset of the full NORI license area.

Chapters:
00:00 — Introduction
02:10 — Minerals shortage
03:39 — The potential of deep-sea mining
07:39 — Great unknowns
12:31 — An uncertain future

Produced by: Katie Brigham
Edited by: Nic Golden Henry
Additional Camera: Liam Mays
Additional Reporting: Catherine Clifford
Animation: Jason Reginato
Supervising Producer: Jeniece Pettitt
Additional Footage: The Metals Company, Deep CCZ Expedition, University of Hawai’i, NOAA Ocean Exploration, Greenpeace, International Seabed Authority, Getty Images

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Could Deep-Sea Mining Fix The Global Minerals Shortage?

37 Comments

  7. Dekyne

    Countries should only mine where they fish therefore if there are any issues it'll hurt them and hopefully, the public would pressure them to stop it.

  9. Richard Campbell

    No. What can fix it is eliminating the car dependency forced on us by the automakers through investment in electric rail and bus service plus accessible walking and cycling infrastructure. Also regulating vehicle size banning resource and energy wasteful large pickups and SUVs.

  10. Eric

    6:55: ✅ Deep-sea mining could have a lower environmental impact compared to land-based mining, according to a lifecycle analysis.

    9:27: ⏳ The International Seabed Authority (ISA) is under pressure to finalize regulations for deep-sea mining as private companies like The Metals Company push for expedited exploitation.

    12:49: 🌊 The Metals Company is preparing to submit its mining application and begin production by the end of 2025, but deep-sea mining is not expected to have a significant impact on supply chains until the 2030s.

    Recap by Tammy AI

  15. oph1066

    Love this It is a classic, we all know rich people in the Western world would rather turn a blind eye to endless child slave labour and land habitat destruction, than risk offending people by even suggesting killing a sea snail, just like how the snowflakes somehow think the world can switch its 160 years dependency on oil in about 5 years just because Greta T starts crying, into her smartphone (made of rare earth mineral using child slavery construction in china or India) Because life is that simple. Good luck getting your electric cars. P.s. look at where all the lithium comes from if you want another can of worms

  20. Joe

    The seabed robot scraping along the bottom of the seafloor like a vacuum cleaner seems… not great to me. It would be better if the robot "walked" along the floor the way the robot spot from boston dynamics works, and used robotic arms to grab the nodules instead. Even better would be if it left every other nodule on the floor, so that there are at least some nodules in a harvested location just in case they serve some environmental function. A robotic arm can grab some and leave some undisturbed in a way the vacuum cleaner method can't.

  21. Hana

    2023.Sep.22 OSAKA JAPAN news

    Ismael Ramsey Khalid (23), an American citizen, Blanche Jeremiah Dwayne (24), an American citizen who was filming the video, broke into a hotel construction site in Nihonbashi, Chuo Ward, Osaka City in August this year. It is suspected that

    According to police, Khalid was distributing videos on social media, calling himself “Johnny Somali.'' At the time of the crime, he entered the area wearing a mask and was chased out by workers. It means that it was.

    アメリカ国籍のイスマエル・ラムジー・カリド容疑者（23）動画を撮影していたアメリカ国籍のブランチ・ジェレマイア・ドウェイン容疑者（24）は今年8月、大阪市中央区日本橋にあるホテルの建設現場に侵入した疑いが持たれています。

    警察によると、カリド容疑者はSNS上で動画を配信していて、「ジョニー・ソマリ」と名乗り、犯行時は覆面姿で侵入し作業員に追い出されましたが、その様子を動画で配信していたということです。

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