Deep Sea Mining

Grey Havoc

Grey Havoc

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This is yet another subject I could have sworn we had more on. Oh well.

From an old thread on Off-world mining:
Triton said:
It seems to me that mining for minerals will move to the deep-sea before going out to space due to cost and infrastructure requirements. Current interest is actually in phosphorus nodules that would be used to manufacture artificial fertilizers. Sulfide deposits around active and extinct hydrothermal vents contain precious metals such as silver, gold, copper, manganese, cobalt, and zinc and there are large areas of polymetallic nodules.
Click to expand...

In light of news stories like the one below, not to mention longstanding concerns over supplies of Rare earths and other vital materials already being increasingly squeezed by less than benevolent interests, is deep sea mining finally going to see it's breakout moment, so to speak? Will such mining ease the outbreak of resource conflicts, or inadvertently accelerate their spread?

www.wired.com

A Cobalt Crisis Could Put the Brakes on Electric Car Sales

First it was lithium, now it's cobalt. Factories are churning out only so many batteries, and it's creating a bottleneck.
www.wired.com www.wired.com
 
There was mention of deep sea mining in this thread about the old HMS Challenger now MV Ya Toivo.

Ultimately if there is money to be made someone will give it a go. So that will depend on who can get access to onshore resources which a easier/cheaper to exploit. Ultimately however it seems a bit like deep sea fishing. Once you go beyond the Exclusive Economic Zone of 200 miles offshore it becomes a free for all. Unless everyone is prepared to get around the table an negotiate a new UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.
 
I just hope the submarine steel alloy here makes it to Sea Dragon
www.macleans.ca

The prolific Canadian inventor behind the 'Ironsuit'

Phil Nuytten, 79, created the 2.1 metre-tall, 1,400 lb apparatus designed to keep any human pilot inside from being squeezed to death by the pressures of the deep sea
www.macleans.ca www.macleans.ca

There is a new book on DSVs

books.google.com

Deep, Dark and Dangerous

How British Columbia became an international hotspot for submarines, submersibles, Newt Suits, underwater robotics and a host of other cutting-edge undersea technologies. In Deep, Dark and Dangerous, maritime historian Vickie Jensen explores the fascinating story of British Columbia’s rise to...
books.google.com
 
It's a lot easier getting into space and back than it is getting to the bottom of the ocean and back.

Especially since the EEZs force you out off the edge of the continental shelves and into seriously deep water.
 
Hmm, interesting.
Am about to read this,
impossiblemetals.com

Why Will Deep Sea Mining Be Less Expensive Than Traditional Land-Based Mining?

Most people assume that deep sea mining will be significantly more expensive than land-based mining because the location of deep sea minerals in the ocean can be remote and very deep. However, these assumptions are not correct—the reality is that deep sea mining will have a significantly lower cost.
impossiblemetals.com impossiblemetals.com
 
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