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Expert Series: Steven Rizea on specialist offshore engineering

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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.

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Impact of Terrestrial Mining

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

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Offshore Diamond Mining in SW Africa

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

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Guest Post: Copper is Critical Today!

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

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Expert Series: Guido van den Bos on applying offshore experience to DSM

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

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Deep-Sea Mining is Inevitable - Miners need to get onboard

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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.

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Expert Series: Scott Vincent on the Benefits of Deep-Sea Mining

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

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Top 9 Countries developing Subsea Minerals in International Waters

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

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9 Subsea Mineral Harvesters

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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!

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11 Countries developing Subsea Minerals in their EEZs

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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!

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Nodules in Japanese EEZ at Minamitorishima

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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.

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UNCLOS

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

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Subsea Minerals in Pacific Island EEZs

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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.

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Developing a Subsea Mineral Licence Regime

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

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Expert Series: Andrew Lipman on Vessel Classifications, STARS and DSM in China

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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.

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Projections of Polymetallic Nodule Metal Production

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

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STARS; the Missing Link in DSM Supply Chain

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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.

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Cook Islands Bathymetry

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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.

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Ayn Rand interviews Hank Gruberson

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

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Expert Series: Keith Franklin on Solwara-1 SMS & Learnings for Norway

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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.

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Mine Site Evaluation

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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

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Subsea Mining & the Critical Minerals Game

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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.

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Public Interest in Deep Sea Mining - the Data

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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

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Monsters, Myths & Facts in DSM

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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

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10 Deep Sea Mining Companies to Watch in 2024

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

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Has Europe Stolen the Lead in Deep Sea Mining?

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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.

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Norway's Subsea Mining Decision

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

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2023 Year in Review

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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.

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Cook Islands EEZ Resource Estimate

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

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Deep Sea Mining Ecosystem Diagram

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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.

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Penrhyn Basin

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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.

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Options for Processing Polymetallic Nodules

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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.

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CCZ Logistics

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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.

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Nodule composition in the CCZ versus Cook Islands

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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.

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Land vs Deep Sea Mining

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

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Managing Offshore Deepwater Operations

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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.

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RKEF processing of polymetallic nodules

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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.

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Deep Sea Mining Equipment

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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.

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Kennecott Consortium

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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.

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Deep Sea Mining in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone

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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.

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Biodiversity in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone

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

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Clarion-Clipperton Zone

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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.

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The 'Copper Crunch' and Deep Sea Mining

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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.

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Olympia

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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

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How polymetallic sulphide deposits form

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

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How polymetallic nodules form

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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.

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How cobalt-rich crusts form

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

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Eureka 1

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

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NORI Collector Test Environmental Impact Statement

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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

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Kennecott Consortium Environmental Impact Assessment

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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.

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Glomar Explorer

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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.

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Project Azorian

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

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Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ)

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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.

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ISA

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

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Hidden Gem

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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

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Hank Gruberson Interview

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

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