The global transition to green energy has signaled the need for critical metals such as nickel and cobalt. Solar, wind and electric vehicle technology will require these metals in immense quantities to support worldwide climate change efforts for the next few decades. However, current supplies are dwindling, and the existing recycling infrastructure isn’t sufficient enough to extract enough metals from dead electric vehicle batteries.
Even if this recycling infrastructure and policies support mass recycling, it may not be enough to supply the world’s increasing demand for minerals. Mining companies are now looking to a new and unexplored frontier to help support the transition to green energy: the deep sea.
Deep-sea mining has attracted considerable interest from mining companies looking for alternative sources of precious metals in what some are saying could be the biggest gold rush in history. Now that a ban on deep-sea mining recently expired, mining companies can technically apply for commercial licenses to mine in the deep sea even though deep-sea mining currently isn’t regulated or overseen by any agency or body.
While digging for minerals in the deep sea could support a global transition to clean energy, environmentalists warn that deep-sea mining could devastate the sea bed and wipe out tons of marine life.
Despite these reservations, companies such as Canada-based The Metals Company have confirmed that they will soon submit paperwork for deep-sea mining licenses. These companies argue that minerals such as nickel and cobalt are essential to achieving net-zero emission goals and that sourcing these metals from the sea is less dangerous than mining them on land.
The Metals Company CEO Gerard Barron said that people should be cautious about deep-sea mining, stating that while land-based mining doesn’t have the greatest record when it comes to environmental impacts, deep sea mining is a “very different resource.” Barron posits that if extractive industries such as mining should be based in places with the least life, it makes perfect sense to source battery metals from the deep sea.
In most cases, these minerals are located in scattered deposits 2.5 miles below the Pacific Ocean surface.
However, scientists from the Natural History Museum discovered that the Pacific Ocean seabed is teeming with life. They estimate that up to 8,000 previously undiscovered species could be living on the seabed, with many of these organisms being physically attached to the mineral deposits.
Some countries, including France, are already seeking a moratorium on deep-ocean mining until there is sufficient evidence of the ecological impact of mining in the deep sea.
It remains to be seen how major precious metals extractors such as Newmont Corporation (NYSE: NEM) (TSX: NGT) will tweak their operations when seabed mining becomes a norm after environmental concerns are addressed.
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