Deep-sea mining targets mineral deposits on the ocean floor, typically at depths of 3,000–6,000 meters. Most attention focuses on polymetallic nodules—potato-sized rocks lying on abyssal plains—and on ...

The rush to mine the deep ocean is no longer a distant possibility. It’s here, thanks to global demand for minerals like cobalt and nickel rising, meaning governments and corporations are eyeing the ...

A new study indicates that deep-sea mining could threaten at least 30 species of sharks, rays and chimaeras, many of which are already at risk of extinction. The authors found that seabed sediment ...

When I set sail on the MV NorSky in the summer of 2008 to probe the depths of Manus Basin off the coast of Papua New Guinea, ...

You may be hearing a lot lately about critical minerals and rare earth elements. These natural materials are essential to industry and modern technology – everything from cellphones to fighter jets.

As demand for critical minerals surges around the world, countries are debating whether to mine the untapped deep-sea reserves of cobalt, copper and manganese, miles below the surface. But a growing ...

For more than a decade, The Metals Company has poured millions of dollars into researching and developing technology for mining seafloors at extreme depths, funding scientific studies to evaluate the ...

More than 10,000 feet deep in the ocean, the seafloor is covered with what look like dark, lumpy potatoes. These polymetallic nodules, as they're known, take millions of years to form, slowly ...

A veritable gold rush appears to be opening up, not in the dusty hills of California but in the deep seabeds of the Pacific Ocean — one that’s being driven by an insatiable global demand of critical ...

You may be hearing a lot lately about critical minerals and rare earth elements. These natural materials are essential to industry and modern technology – everything from cellphones to fighter jets.