Explorers have long dreamed of harvesting deep-sea metals, but the first commercial effort failed a century ago. Today, deep-sea mining has the backing of the Trump administration, and ocean scientists are racing to determine whether marine life can coexist with machines that rake their habitat for undersea treasure.
The aim is to vacuum up rocks containing cobalt, nickel, copper, and manganese – elements used in electric-vehicle batteries, smartphones, medical devices, and artificial-intelligence hardware.
However, conservationists say that sea mining will destroy this bottom-dwelling sea life, while mud and debris from the mining process will disturb shallower parts of the ocean.
Scientists are working alongside mining companies to monitor their activity and test their models to estimate the potential damage. A recent discovery suggests that marine life is returning to areas of the Clarion-Clipperton Zone that underwent similar tests in 1979.
