Deep-sea mining tech advances – but doubts remain - Voice of Asia

A new type of robot is undergoing seabed mining tests, tasked with finding and picking up metal-rich nodules. Equipped with a three-clawed robotic arm, this robot can precisely grasp stones from the seabed, demonstrating a potential method for deep-sea mining.

To minimize the impact on marine life, the autonomous robot uses its onboard cameras to scan rocks for organisms during operation, avoiding accidental injury to creatures inhabiting the rocks. This test, conducted in a port in November, aims to explore a method for mining polymetallic nodules. These nodules are abundant potato-sized metal chunks scattered across the deep seabed, rich in metals that can be used in renewable energy equipment and batteries.

Deep-sea mining is highly controversial due to its potential for significant environmental impact. Oliver Gunasekara, co-founder and CEO of Impossible Metals, stated that their vehicles use artificial intelligence to find and avoid life, thereby significantly reducing environmental impact. The company's system is claimed to have an accuracy rate of up to 95% in detecting organisms of 1 mm or larger.

The robot's robotic arm, similar to those used in automated warehouses for picking and placing items, has been optimized for speed. Furthermore, each claw only stirs up a relatively small amount of sediment when grabbing targets from the seabed. Impossible Metals aims to further reduce this disturbance. However, this system is unlikely to convince everyone that deep-sea mining is a good idea.

Jessica Battle, head of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) global initiative to ban deep-sea mining, stated that, regardless of the technology used, mining inherently removes the substrate on which deep-sea life depends. Deep-sea mining is controversial in part because the deep seabed is largely undisturbed, and relatively little is known about it. John Childs of Lancaster University said, "If you're not sure what's there, then don't touch it. That's been the prevailing position of the scientific community so far."

Past mining experiments using highly destructive technologies have left severe scars. Researchers say that in 1979, deep-sea mining equipment left huge marks on a section of the Pacific seabed that are still visible today. It has been reported that 40 years later, wildlife in the area has not fully recovered. The opposition to deep-sea mining is so strong that it has even led to the collapse of some companies.

Nautilus Minerals attempted to begin deep-sea mining operations in the late 2010s. After protests and financial difficulties, the company went bankrupt in 2019. Minerals found on the deep seabed, including manganese, nickel, cobalt, gold, and silver, are considered important materials for the green energy transition. Currently, these metals come from land-based mines, and land-based mining itself has a significant environmental impact.

There are currently no commercial deep-sea mining operations, but this could change if the first set of international regulations governing these activities is released this year (possibly in July). Gunasekara's company is currently building a larger version of the robot in a 20-foot container, sufficient for commercial-scale operations. It will have 12 robotic arms with grasping claws. He also added that "hundreds" of such robots would be needed to simultaneously mine the seabed and transport the spoils to ships on the surface. The recovered nodules would then be transported to processing plants on land.

Unlike some other methods, in which heavy seabed equipment is connected to support vessels, Impossible Metals' vessels do not have to remain in precise locations for long periods, meaning that their engines do not generate as much noise. Gunasekara claims that this will reduce the impact on wildlife. He also argues that deep-sea mining will reduce the need for land-based mining: "Anyone who doesn't want deep-sea mining is implicitly saying that we need to do more land-based mining."

Jovana Jovanova of Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands is researching a different robotic arm system that can collect metals from the seabed. She emphasizes that those working in the field should strive to develop technologies that are "in sync" with the environment. However, some deep-sea materials may be removed using more invasive methods. Norwegian company Seabed Solutions is developing a saw-based device for extracting mineral-rich crusts or layers. The company says it is working to reduce the amount of sediment disturbed by the process.

Bård Brekke Jørgensen, Managing Director of Seabed Solutions, said, "You can shield the cutting area and make sure it's under pressure. You have a suction interface on your cutting tool." The Metals Company, a company founded by Gerard Barron, a former investor in Nautilus Minerals, is researching a different technology.

Despite facing protests and lawsuits, Barron, the CEO, is optimistic about his company's prospects. One issue is a class-action lawsuit filed by investors in 2023 over the company's reporting of revenue from a partner company -- Barron says "there's absolutely nothing to it." He said that those calling for a moratorium on deep-sea mining are "grandstanding," adding that a new Trump administration in the United States could help his company.

Barron said, "Many of our best supporters are in very important positions in the new government." The Metals Company plans to submit an application to the International Seabed Authority (ISA) later this year to conduct deep-sea mining in the Pacific. The ISA has not yet confirmed how it will regulate such activities. Allseas, a Dutch company partnering with Barron's company, has developed mining machinery to scoop up polymetallic nodules from the seabed and send them to support vessels on the surface.

The Metals Company's own tests have shown that the plume of debris generated by the process will spread hundreds of meters from the mining area, rather than kilometers, and that the deposited sediment will gradually clear over time. Barron said that claims that sediment will be distributed kilometers from the mining area are "complete nonsense." Jeroen Hagelstein, a spokesperson for Allseas, said that his company has adjusted the power of the hydraulic jets used to loosen the nodules to minimize sediment disturbance.

Some of the sediment brought to the surface along with the nodules is dumped back into the ocean. Hagelstein said that his colleagues are considering whether to return these sediments at a depth of three or four kilometers, rather than discarding them on the surface, but he added that this may require too much energy to adequately reduce the overall environmental impact. Barron acknowledged that his company's machinery may affect organisms living on or around the nodules. "If you're a sponge sitting on a nodule, and we come to collect you, there will be an impact," he said. But he noted that many nodules will also be left behind.

Ann Vanreusel of Ghent University studies deep-sea wildlife. She says that the polymetallic nodules that people dream of are themselves home to some organisms that use them as a substrate. Therefore, even if the mining machinery did not generate any sediment disturbance, pollution, and noise, removing the nodules would still affect the ecosystem. Dr. Childs also mentioned the importance of the deep sea to many indigenous cultures. He believes that mining could interfere with this.

Lea Reitmeier of the London School of Economics said there is another problem. The metal markets that deep-sea mining companies are seeking are notoriously volatile, meaning that the commercial case for deep-sea mining may not be as strong as some hope. "When you dig into it, you find out which minerals are actually in short supply, and I'm not sure that's the case," she said.