{"id":121244,"date":"2021-07-26T18:12:05","date_gmt":"2021-07-26T12:42:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=121244"},"modified":"2021-07-26T18:17:37","modified_gmt":"2021-07-26T12:47:37","slug":"digging-up-the-ocean-floor-for-metals-could-prove-disastrous","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/digging-up-the-ocean-floor-for-metals-could-prove-disastrous\/","title":{"rendered":"Digging up the ocean floor for metals could prove disastrous"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>Source<\/b>:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/epaper.livemint.com\/Home\/ShareArticle?OrgId=2674d804b4b&amp;imageview=0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Livemint<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Relevance<\/strong>: Marine life will be endangered if seafloor mining got commercialised.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h5><b>Synopsis<\/b>:<\/h5>\n<p>The seafloor contains potato-sized rocks that contain many metals needed to make electric-car batteries. Many perceive that seabed mining as a green alternative to land-based mineral extraction\u2014and potentially a hugely lucrative business. But it is not completely true.<\/p>\n<h5><strong>Introduction:<\/strong><\/h5>\n<p>A startup, The Metals Co, holds prospecting rights over 90,000 square miles of seabed and plans to indulge in seabed mining.<\/p>\n<p>Since June, 530 marine science and policy experts from 44 countries have signed a statement warning that <strong>seabed mining would result in environmental damages<\/strong> \u201cirreversible on multi-generational timescales.<\/p>\n<p>That should alarm not just investors, but policymakers charged with protecting the oceans.<\/p>\n<h5><strong>About Polymetallic nodules:<\/strong><\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li>These are rocks that are rich in cobalt, copper, manganese, nickel, rare-earth elements and titanium.<\/li>\n<li>The Pacific basin is thought to contain more than 30 billion tonnes of polymetallic nodules<\/li>\n<li>Scientists and entrepreneurs have been researching methods of extracting them since the 1960s.<\/li>\n<li>In 1994, the International Seabed Authority was established to regulate mining efforts and protect the seabed environment.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-25926\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/metal.jpg?resize=597%2C322&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"597\" height=\"322\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/metal.jpg?w=597&amp;ssl=1 597w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/metal.jpg?resize=150%2C81&amp;ssl=1 150w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/metal.jpg?resize=300%2C162&amp;ssl=1 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 597px) 100vw, 597px\" \/><\/p>\n<h5><strong>Challenges in seafloor mining<\/strong><\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li>The seafloor is arguably the <strong>least resilient ecosystem<\/strong> on the planet.<\/li>\n<li>In 2017, a report <strong>commissioned by the UK government<\/strong> warned that<a href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/sea-bed-mining\/\"> seabed mining<\/a> could lead to the \u201c<strong>extinction of unique species<\/strong> which form the first rung of the food chain.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>The damage wouldn\u2019t be confined to the ocean floor. Plumes of sediment will have a dire effects on sea life accustomed to clear water.\n<ul>\n<li>Further, the plumes might also include toxins that can pass on to Fishes.<\/li>\n<li>The plumes might also <strong>reduce the ocean\u2019s ability to sequester carbon<\/strong>\u2014or even release stored carbon into the atmosphere\u2014thereby <strong>worsening climate change<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h5><strong>Suggestions:<\/strong><\/h5>\n<p><strong>The UN should call for a moratorium <\/strong>on seafloor mining. Further, countries should consider <strong>challenging any permits at the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea and other legal forums<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Terms to know:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/international-seabed-authority-isa\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">International Seabed Authority (ISA)<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Source:\u00a0Livemint Relevance: Marine life will be endangered if seafloor mining got commercialised. Synopsis: The seafloor contains potato-sized rocks that contain many metals needed to make electric-car batteries. Many perceive that seabed mining as a green alternative to land-based mineral extraction\u2014and potentially a hugely lucrative business. But it is not completely true. Introduction: A startup, The&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/digging-up-the-ocean-floor-for-metals-could-prove-disastrous\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Digging up the ocean floor for metals could prove disastrous<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10311,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1230,9],"tags":[59,216,2568,4574,8601],"class_list":["post-121244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","category-public","tag-environment","tag-gs-paper-3","tag-polymetallic-nodules","tag-seabed-mining","tag-seafloor-mining","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":{"total":2,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1700857275},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10311"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=121244"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121244\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=121244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=121244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=121244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}