The Future of Underwater Mineral Harvesting
An exploration of the emerging technology and industry of mining minerals from the deep sea, and its implications for the environment and society. From history to modern science.
Report by IDTechEx, the market for underwater robotics is expected to grow to $2.3 billion by 2028, driven by demand from industries such as oil and gas, mining, and environmental monitoring and seeking new mineral sources under the water.
But, Why seek minerals in deep-sea surfaces; cause it's so much complicated and can create a lot of adversarial effects on the environment!
1948 - California Gold Rush: The Beginning
a man named James W. Marshall discovered gold at Sutter’s Mill, a sawmill in Coloma, California. News of the discovery spread quickly, and by the end of 1848, thousands of people had arrived in California to search for gold. These prospectors, known as “forty-niners,” came from all over the world, including the eastern United States, Europe, and even China.
2018 — Cobalt crisis
Cobalt is a critical mineral used in batteries for electric vehicles and electronic devices. In 2018, a shortage of cobalt led to a spike in prices, causing concern among manufacturers and consumers. The crisis was triggered due to a combination of many factors, including increased demand, supply chain disruptions, and conflicts in the Democratic Republic of Congo, as this land is considered the most cobalt-mined zone.
- Article: “The Cobalt Crisis: How the Race for Battery Materials Is Impacting the Environment and Human Rights” (Fortune)
- Report: “Cobalt: A Market Outlook” (Roskill)
2018 — Lithium crisis
Lithium is the most crucial and essential mineral used in batteries for electric vehicles and electronic devices. In 2018, the lithium shortage led to a surge in prices and raised rational questions about the sustainability of the electric vehicle industry in the future. The crisis occurred due to a couple of factors, including increased demand by battery manufacturing for mobile devices along with supply chain disruptions, and production issues in Chile and Argentina, which are major producers of lithium.
- Article: “The Lithium Crunch: How the Electric Car Boom Is Stressing the Global Supply Chain” (Bloomberg)
- Report: “Lithium: A Market Outlook” (Roskill)
2019- Nickel crisis
Nickel is a key mineral used in stainless steel production. In 2019, a supply chain disruption due to a ban on nickel ore exports from Indonesia led to a spike in prices, causing concerns among stainless steel producers. The crisis highlighted the vulnerability of the global nickel supply chain and the need for diversified sources of nickel.
- Article: “Nickel Prices Surge After Indonesia Bans Ore Exports” (Wall Street Journal)
- Report: “Nickel: A Market Outlook” (Roskill)
2010-present — Rare earth elements crisis
Rare earth elements (REEs) are a group of minerals; which designates a wide range of high-tech applications, including electronics, renewable energy technologies, and advanced ceramics. Since 2010, there have been a lot of contiguous crises in the REE market due to multiple factors, including supply chain disruptions, export restrictions, and environmental concerns as well. This led to the peak of prices and concerns about the long-term availability of REEs.
- Article: “Rare Earth Elements: The Next Resource Challenge” (Foreign Policy)
- Report: “Rare Earth Elements: A Review of the Current State of Knowledge” (National Research Council)
2020 — Graphite crisis
Graphite is another key mineral used in the production of graphene, which has a significant role in the development of electronics, energy storage, and so on. In 2020, a supply chain disruption due to the COVID-19 pandemic and other factors accelerated the graphite price spike, causing concerns among manufacturers and investors.
- Article: “Graphite Shortage Threatens to Derail the Graphene Revolution” (Forbes)
- Report: “Graphite: A Market Outlook” (Roskill)
Day to day our surface of mineral sources getting shorter and on the other side our industries are getting minerals due it’s production requirements.
How minerals forms under the water?
Gold, along with other precious metals like silver and platinum, cobalt, zinc, etc can be found in the form of ore deposits; which lie on the sea floor. These deposits are formed gradually when hot water reacts with minerals and flows through cracks in the earth’s crust, creating a type of underground river system. As the water starts to cool itself, the minerals precipitate out and eventually form layers of ore that can be mined. Then, the rest of the stuff is on Mineral extraction plants as usual.
The whole game is about extraction with sustainable mining to safeguard the environment as well at the same time.
For the past decade, underwater technologies(like: UUV, underwater ports, and so on ) continues to advance, and extracting these resources from the sea floor increasing day by day. Underwater mining, also known as marine mining, has the potential to become a significant contributor to the global supply of critical minerals and metals, while also providing new opportunities for economic growth and job creation. Though, this emerging industry has a lot of adversarial questions on marine ecosystems and coastal communities.
Expansion of Mineral Resources
The vast deposit of silver and gold is located beneath the Sierra Nevada mountain range; which was discovered in 1857, the Comstock Lode became one of the largest and most productive silver mines in the country, yielding millions of dollars worth of ore and transforming Virginia City, Nevada, into a thriving mining center. The Comstock Lode was so lucrative that it financed much of the construction of the transcontinental railroad and helped to fuel the growth of San Francisco as a major financial hub.
This Incident was the catalyst to trigger the further development of underwater mining.
Environmental Concerns are the biggest challenge of underwater mining, let’s have a look into these:
- Habitat destruction- The mining process may bring some significant damage to delicate marine ecosystems, including coral reefs, kelp forests, and seagrass beds. These habitats provide crucial shelter and food for countless species of fish, crustaceans, and many other marine animals.
- Water pollution - During mining operations heavy metals, chemicals, and sediment in the water will start to move out from the seafloor, which can be threatening to the health of marine life and passively for us.
- Noise pollution - Drilling down mineral ores will generate a lot of noise; which may disrupt the communication and navigation of marine mammals, such as whales and dolphins, and potentially harm their hearing.
- Release of toxic substances - The extraction process can disturb and release toxic substances, like mercury and lead, and arsenic from the seafloor, posing a risk to both marine life and human health.
- Climate change - Disturbing the ocean’s carbon sink, leading to increased greenhouse gas emissions.
- Tectonic vibration: This is a real-time threat for this planet; if mass drilling happens on seafloors; eventually it can even cause tsunamis as well.
Future of Underwater Mining :
Companies like Ocean Infinity, SoarOcean, and so on are developing UUV(Unmanned underwater vehicles ) or AUV( autonomous underwater vehicles in bulk.
Day by day AI is also integrating with UUVs; which are actively empowering underwater activities; which are not only isolated to mineral harvesting only. Eventually, this is reducing human activities during operations. This topic, I have deeply covered in my previous article “Underwater Time Traveling by ASW” as well.
Decades ago when AI was not in real use cases that much, then ROVs (remotely operated vehicles) use to do the same stuff, but it was costly enough to get the job done as shown in the picture due to the involvement of many apparatus and types of equipment.
But, Now a combination of AI and IIOT enabled companies to explore and extract minerals at greater depths, even in underwater trenches as well as in harder-to-reach locations while reducing the risk of accidents and improving the accuracy of mineral extraction.
Modern GIS Sea mapping on the other hand is part of Oceanography; which gets maximum power from the emergence of Sateltine and modern Multi-directional Sonar systems.
Image Segmentation is getting automated day to day which is part of computer vision technology.
Sustainability:
Few takeaways to draw to make the process agile and effective
- The future of underwater mining will depend on the ability of governments, industries, and civil society to strike a balance between economic, social, and environmental interests.
- Local communities and indigenous peoples must be involved in decision-making processes and benefit fairly from underwater mining activities in their regions.
- Further research and development are highly required to improve the efficiency and safety of underwater mining operations, as well as to mitigate their environmental impacts.
- Strict and insightful regulations and international cooperation are necessary to prevent overfishing and habitat destruction, definitely along with ensuring equitable sharing of resources.
