Articles

We review COMRC's "A Deadly Moratorium" report, which calls for NGOs and corporations to rethink their approach to a moratorium on deep-sea mining

Deep Reach Technology is one of the world's leading specialist offshore engineering firms. Steven talks about their work in deep-sea mining, developing digital twins, and work in offshore wind.

Terrestrial mining is a huge industry, using significant areas of land and producing large volumes of waste

Offshore diamond mining is a huge industry in South Africa and Namibia, with a number of production support vessels operating

Green Minerals writes about how subsea minerals encompass more than just Cobalt, and why Copper is critical

Guido van den Bos speaks about how NOV applies their offshore experience to deep-sea mining

Following dozens of interviews with experts in deep-sea mining, we believe that deep-sea mining is inevitable, and that the major mining companies need to get onboard or miss out.

Scott Vincent from the Critical Ocean Minerals Research Center speaks about the environmental impacts of deep-sea mining, and comparisons to terrestrial mining

21 different countries hold subsea mineral exploration licences via the International Seabed Authority. Here's the 9 most active (with a few surprises!)

Deep-sea mining equipment is being developed by a range of different companies and research bodies worldwide. This equipment must operate at tremendous depths, in crushing pressure, in total darkness. Here's 9 of the most interesting deep-sea mining machines!

A variety of different countries are exploring for subsea minerals in their Exclusive Economic Zones. This is a list of the 11 most interesting to watch!

A large polymetallic nodule field has been located approximately 1800km southeas of mainland Japan in the Japanese EEZ. It contains around 230million tons of dense nodules with high grades of Cobalt and Copper, making it very commercially attractive.

The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) establishes a legal framework for regulating all of the ocean and its resources

Subsea minerals have been sampled in the EEZs of many Pacific Nations, indicating that deep-sea mining industries may be possible in many different states.

An overview of how nations can successfully develop a subsea mineral licence regime, based upon observations of the Cook Islands

Andrew Lipman is the Director of Subsea Mining for the American Bureau of Shipping. He talks about DSM activity in China, STARS, and the need for a regulatory body.

Based upon publicly available exploration plans, we estimated when polymetallic nodule mine sites are likely to start production, and consequently estimated likely metal production

One critical factor in deep-sea mining is the transportation of nodules from the mine-site to onshore refineries. We discuss STARS vessels, and how this new class of bulk carrier is needed for successful operations.

The Cook Islands has tremendous resources of polymetallic nodules and fascinating bathymetry. This 3D model shows the Cook Islands, bathymetry data, and the license areas.

In an exclusive interview, Ayn Rand talks to Hank Gruberson about his exploits in deep sea mining

Keith has over 50 years of experience in subsea operations, including time spent designing, manufacturing and testing subsea mining systems for mining Seabed Massive Sulphides at Solwara-1 in Papua New Guinea. Keith talks about his experiences and learnings for the Norwegian sector.

Mine site valuation depends upon various geological and operational factors, and it fundamentally determines the value of a deep sea mining company. We explain how to evaluate a mine site via an interactive calculator

Critical mineral supply and production are of increasing concern to the US and Europe, yet the subsea holds abundant volumes of these minerals. Here's how subsea mining can ease critical mineral tensions.

Public interest in deep sea mining is growing rapidly. Whilst there is a lively debate around environmental consequences, data indicates the public is more interested in other aspects

Marine Technology Society presentation given on January 24th, 2024 by Phillip Gales, about the challenges of presenting accurate facts about deep sea mining, especially to a business / financial audience

Our list of the top ten deep sea mining companies to watch in 2024

Whilst the US and China fight over critical minerals supply chain, we believe that Europe has stolen the lead in deep sea mining and now leads this industry.

Our Cartoonist's view on Norways decision to allow exploration for subsea minerals in their Exclusive Economic Zone

2023 has seen some significant advances in deep sea mining. Major players entered the fray, including Norway, Transocean and Loke; progress continued at TMC / NORI-D and in the Cook Islands; whilst the ISA disappointed by missing the July 9th deadline for enacting regulations.

Assessment of the mineral resources located in various license blocks in the Cook Islands Exclusive Economic Zone

Deep sea mining requires the coordination between multiple different business, industries and players. This business ecosystem diagram illustrates how each component interacts in order to successfully mine deep sea minerals.

The Penrhyn Basin lies predominantly in the Cook Islands EEZ, and is generally considered the second most promising polymetallic nodule field after the Clarion-Clipperton Zone. For this reason, it has attracted significant investment and attention.

Polymetallic Nodules represent a unique challenge for processing, as they contain an array of valuable metals in different forms. A number of processing options have been proposed, and this article gives a quick outline of each.

The Clarion-Clipperton Zone is deep in the Pacific Ocean, and is particularly remote and distant from most ports and airports. This article considers how to effectively run operations and logistics in such a remote location.

Both the Clarion-Clipperton Zone and the Cook Islands EEZ contain polymetallic nodules that appear superficially similar. However, there are differences in composition between the two zones that critically impact project economics.

Land mining and deep sea mining both have significant benefits and impacts. We compare both mining options across major impact categories.

Offshore operations are complicated by issues of remoteness, weather and the confines of a ship. This article discuss learnings and best practises from the offshore oil and gas industry.

The Metals Co's recent MOU with PAMCO indicates that they're looking to use RKEF furnaces to process polymetallic nodules from the CCZ. Here's a quick refresher on RKEF furnaces and how they work.

Deep Sea Mining requires a number of items of heavy equipment to operate together at tremendous depths, whilst isolated far from land in the deep ocean.

The Kennecott Consortium was active in Deep Sea Mining in the 1970s. Although they were ultimately not commercially successful, they nonetheless pioneered many of the technologies and processes that are used today.

There is a long and interesting history of deep sea mining projects in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone; from the operations of the Kennecott Consortium in the 1970s, through to ongoing work by The Metals Company.

Despite the tremendous challenges of cold, pressure and lack of sunlight, the Clarion-Clipperton Zone supports surprising biodiversity.

The Clarion-Clipperton Zone is a vast area of polymetallic nodule deposits located in the Northern Pacific Ocean. It represents one of the most compelling deep sea mining opportunities.

Copper is ubiquitous in modern society. The 'copper crunch' refers to a large projected gap between future copper demand and production. This threatens to impact modern life, unless other sources of copper are found and commercialised.

Olympia is GSR's Production Support Vessel and platform for their bespoke hydraulic collector. It was formerly a Transocean deepwater drillship, and is currently being converted for deep sea mining

Polymetallic sulphide deposits form at hydrothermal vent sites, and are rich sources of metals such as copper, zinc, gold and silver.

Polymetallic nodules are small spheroidal "rocks" that form over millions on years on the deep seabed. They consist of large amounts of precious metals, and present a compelling prospect for sea bed mining.

Cobalt-Rich Crusts are formed by metal minerals precipitating out of seawater to form crusts.

Eureka 1 is a autonomous swarm collector that has been developed by Impossible Metals. It uses image recognition and robotic arms to pick nodules.

This is the Environmental Impact Statement submitted to the ISA to support testing the Allseas / Metals Company collector systems in the CCZ in late 2022

This is the draft Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) submitted by the Kennecott Consortium to NOAA in May 1984, to support deep sea mining in the Clarion Clipperton Zone.

Hughes Glomar Explorer was built in 1973 as a deep sea mining production support vessel. However, this was a CIA cover-story to hide a clandestine project to recover a Soviet nuclear submarine.

Project Azorian was a huge covert CIA operation that combined deep sea mining, a billionaire industrialist, a sunken submarine, and cold war espionage.

Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs) grant states special rights over the exploration and use of marine resources, and so offer an alternate means of licensing sea bed mining.

An introduction to the ISA, what it does, how it operates, and achievements to date.

Hidden Gem is Allsea's Production Support Vessel and platform for their bespoke hydraulic collector. It is currently licensed to The Metals Company for polymetallic nodule collection in the Clarion Clipperton Zone

An exclusive interview with Hank Gruberson, on the latest exploration cruise