Ocean mining involves extracting valuable minerals from the seabed. Based on current plans, this process utilizes specialized technology to collect materials from the deep ocean floor.
Here's how ocean mining is planned to work:
The Process of Ocean Mining
Mining interests plan to use large, robotic machines to excavate the ocean floor. This method is designed to be similar to strip-mining on land.
The core steps involve:
- Excavation: Large, robotic machines are deployed to the ocean floor. These robots are designed to dig or scrape the seabed to collect mineral-rich materials.
- Collection: Once the material is collected by the robotic excavators, it is transported from the seabed up to a surface vessel. This is typically done by pumping the materials up to the ship.
- Processing (Implied): While not detailed in the specific reference, extracted materials brought to the ship would likely undergo some level of processing or sorting.
- Waste Disposal: A significant part of the process involves dealing with the unwanted material, which includes wastewater and debris. This material is dumped into the ocean.
- Environmental Impact: The dumping of wastewater and debris back into the ocean creates large sediment clouds underwater.
In essence, the planned method is a technologically advanced form of excavation and transport, followed by discarding waste material back into the marine environment, leading to visible sediment plumes.
