The next lot of machines that head down into the deep are not to improve science, but to mine for minerals like nickel and cobalt. So how does that kind of deep sea mining actually work? There will be enormous machines sent down to the deep sea floor, picking up these polymetallic nodules and also disturbing at least the top 10 centimeters of the sedimentation. We know that that actual mining process is going to result in the direct removal and destruction of the sea floor habitats along with all of the life that is living there.