A New Mining Ship Sucks Metals Off The Seafloor. Is That A Good Idea? | Big Business

miles below the surface of the ocean scientists are collecting alien-like creatures from one of the world's least explored ecosystems they're studying what lives down here before a new industry moves in to vacuum tons of rocks from the seafloor each one packed full of ingredients needed to build electric car batteries wind turbines and solar panels there could be billions of tons of valuable nodules in the ocean a Canadian startup called the metals company could be the first to cash in and on this test run it scooped up the world's biggest Hall yet you're looking at a cargo hold full of clumps of metal that formed over millions of years this is history I've never stood in this no one has no one the CEO says deep sea mining does less damage than mining on land though no one really knows for sure yet should we be going to dig up our rainforest to get these metals or should we be going to this Abyssal Zone to pick up rocks but as the company to a successful pilot mission environmental activists say deep seam mining is not worth the risks we call on you to stop plundering the sea floor they say they have leaked video of sediment dumping that proves their point [Music] experts have called for a pause on this kind of mining until one of the world's most mysterious ecosystems can be studied further please do the silence before you go in and destroy can vacuuming billions of rocks from the deep sea really help power a switch to renewable energy and is this kind of mining actually any better than mining on land we went aboard the Hidden Gem to see what mining the deep sea really looks like these rocks are called poly metallic nodules if you cut one in half the inside is kind of like a jawbreaker candy each one begins with a fragment like a shark tooth or shell over millions of years metal particles from the water and sediment build up a layer just a few millimeters thick can take a million years to form nodules are found in flat soft parts of the deep ocean around the world one of the most promising nodule Fields is in the Clarion clipperden Zone a stretch of Pacific Ocean Floor about as wide as the continental United States nearly 20 companies and countries are racing to launch the deep sea mining industry here much of it is reserved for developing nations so the metals company partnered with three Pacific island countries to be able to explore their plots [Music] Gerard Baron is on a decade-long quest to mine the Deep his last Venture ran out of money I wanted to do something that was near impossible you know I was pretty sure that if I didn't do this then it may not move forward and that would be a travesty he's the CEO of the metals company I assist which in November finished a 10-week trial run collecting nodules from the deep today marks one of the most important proof points the technology is available to collect these rocks at a commercial scale what works the ship lowers a collector vehicle into the water this prototype weighs 90 tons and is about the size of a minibus operators Drive The Collector remotely from inside this control room [Music] thank you each vehicle has four nozzles and sensors that adjust their positions they hover just above the seabed and the nodules that are laying there are sucked into the nozzle they work kind of like a vacuum cleaner the machine also collects the top few centimeters of mud internal pumps separate that from the rocks and shoot some of the sediment back out next air bubbles push rocks mud and seawater up a tube that can extend up to two and a half miles after about 12 minutes the slurry reaches the surface a Whirlpool uses gravity to separate the nodules from water and sediment the Hidden Gem was originally built to drill for oil the metals company and its engineering partner called all Seas retrofitted it to collect and store nodules the pile in this hold is the expedition's Harvest the company says it's 3 000 metric tons this is the first time a commercial collection of this scale has ever been done many rocks break apart on their way up to the ship they are quite brittle but still the product is very valuable for extraction of nickel Cobalt copper and manganese most of the nodules will stay in storage until the company scales up the metals company's ultimate plan is to build processing centers at ports that will melt and refine the Rocks into separate streams of useful metals the company wants those facilities to be powered on renewable energy and eventually plans to recycle battery Metals as well but first it needs permission from the international seabed authority to scale up mining some have criticized that process saying approval to explore mining in the first place has been rushed and secretive but the CEO says this Mission will provide insights about mining that you can only get by mining if you're going to move an industry from an idea into commercial production you need to do this all of this data is going to be so important as we build a picture and prepare our finalized environmental impact study researchers hired by the metals company sail alongside the mining ship in this science vessel they're taking samples before and after harvesting to see how kicking up clouds of sediment or creating lots of noise affects the deep sea environment I sometimes hear our critics say but how can we trust the science if you're paying for it I say to them well who's going to pay for it if I'm not going to pay for it I'm sure you're not either the company's environmental impact statement based on this mission is expected in the second half of 2023. and one of the main questions is what to do with the water and sediment sucked up with the nodules the metals company is still testing out the right depth to minimize the impact of sediment clouds but estimates it's below 1200 meters if it's closer to the surface it can block sunlight to see Life below and spread to a wider area activist groups shared these video clips with Insider they say it shows the Hidden Gem spilling waste water onto the surface the metals company responded with their own video saying it was a temporary overflow from the whirlpool which it says ran over the deck and out of these pipes in an email the company said the event did not have the potential to cause harm Insider could not verify whether the videos show the same event experts told us loose sediment could impact sea life down below these are like the most clear waters probably on the planet so summoning dumping a lot of sediment in there that the animals are not used to probably will have some impact so we actually don't really know how much they can withstand okay and how many meters are you behind the collector a promotional video from the metals company calls this mining area a vast underwater desert but even deserts have life in them and this stretch of seafloor does too many of the species in the dark high pressure habitat haven't been found anywhere else on Earth recent Expeditions have found a never-before-seen octopus a swarm of eels eating bait plus sea cucumbers fish and stuff we didn't even have a name for yet like this thing with nearly seven foot long tentacles it's attached to a sponge stock which is stuck on a nodule that's a key detail the Rocks seem to give some creatures on the soft seafloor something to hold on to so no matter how careful the miners are not to stir up sand removing nodules would take away key habitat and likely kill any animals attached to them we can't really predict the scale of species extinctions that would come from that much mining but there was a reason to think it could be significant we don't actually know enough here to understand all these impacts and therefore the costs what we do know is that mining metals on land can have devastating effects the Cobalt rush in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has been linked to Human Rights abuses including the use of child labor [Applause] in Indonesia and the Philippines nickel mining operations led to the deforestation of tropical areas but some mines are managed better than others you know people promoting deep sea mining often argue that all land-based mining is inherently badly managed and that's not true there are certainly many cases where it is but there are certainly many cases where it's not auras mind on land also leave behind lots of leftovers called tailings these can Leach dangerous pollution into water and soil if not disposed of properly the CEO believes seafloor mining solves that waste issue and has other benefits too we generate zero waste and zero tailings we don't have the risk of any child labor we can commercially pick up these rocks and help stop some of the terrible deforestation of our most biodiverse habitats on land that would mean replacing some land-based mining with deep sea mining but experts say there's no evidence land-based mining would go away or even decline if we mine the sea floor you'll just end up with a situation that you are going to have increased ecological harm on land and then at Sea as well Hidden Gem Hidden Gem Hidden Gem on November 16th a Greenpeace campaigner radioed the mining ship at Sea to tell the crew his concerns deep sea mining is an imminent threat to the ocean and the vast array of wondrous marine life the activist says the environmental benefits the company touts are just marketing spin the argument that we need to look for these minerals and medals to Aid the green energy transition is pure green watch we're not talking about reducing the overall amount of mining we're talking about already wealthy people looking for a new goal race ultimately experts see mining always has trade-offs no matter where you do it there's no question that Ipsy mining would have major environmental impacts but whether those are acceptable trade-offs or decisions Society has to make experts told Insider the best way to make that decision is by starting small to start with one mining operation and monitor it very well for at least 10 years and my personal view is that probably it could sustain one mining operation without having major regional loss of ecosystem services and biodiversity but people are not talking about one mining operation right now 22 companies and governments have contracts to explore deep sea mining in international waters the metals company says it could begin full-scale operations as soon as 2025. to shift away from fossil fuels energy experts say we need Metals for Batteries solar panels and wind turbines now I don't think deep sea mining would ever be able to be a substantial producer so the question is is that Niche that Boutique to the fraction of the market is it worth the risk the International Energy agency says that to avoid the worst effects of climate change in coming decades the world needs to mine at least four times as many medals as it does now nodules could help with that but will still need a lot of metals from land and a lot more recycling thank you

Channel: Business Insider

Views: 3,603,156

Keywords: Business Insider, Business News, deep sea, electric cars, rocks, electric car power

Id: 9ZoTxvMsOnw

Length: 13min 42sec (822 seconds)

Published: Sat Jan 21 2023