Undersea Volcano Harvesting
Why undersea volcanoes are valuable
Undersea volcanoes are a recently discovered source of precious metals, they host gold, copper, zinc, and other valuable minerals. Undersea volcanoes are abundant, most of the Earth’s volcanic activity occurs in the ocean. These deposits are plentiful and can yield more than deposits mined on land. The estimated total volume of gold in the ocean is equal to 9lbs per every person on earth or $150 trillion in today’s gold prices (National Geographic).
Benefits for the ecosystems and humans
Underwater mining is safer, cleaner, and more environmentally friendly than its terrestrial counterpart (Samantha Smith) Vice President of Nautilis Minerals who is already mining in Paupa New Guinea. Her justification includes that the terrain is less of a burden, there’s less waste, and no people need to be displaced. Human miners would be replaced with machines that harvest the metals from the ocean floor.
Is this the answer?
Undersea volcano harvesting seems like the answer we’ve been waiting for, a solution to our unsustainable practices on land. However, undersea harvesting of volcanoes may be just as harmful as terrestrial mining in terms of impacting the environment in the process of mining undersea volcanoes, in that we are destroying the habitats of animals that live there which include snails, tubeworms, octopi, and crabs. Additionally, conditions for the humans that work in the undersea mines may be just as dangerous as conditions present on earth. Both environments require one to be confined in small, dangerous and unpredictable conditions. It seems as though this will be a viable alternative to terrestrial mining but only after significant advances in technology result in more positives than negatives for the industry.
