Short Wave Sea Camp: To Mine Or Not To Mine
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Aug 25, 2025 Deep sea mining is sparking heated debates as companies eye rare earth elements crucial for green technologies. While some argue this is essential for a global green transition, others warn of the potential environmental devastation. The Clarion-Clipperton Zone holds vast resources, but concerns about its unique ecosystem and long-term impacts loom large. Calls for a moratorium on mining highlight the urgent need to understand the environmental risks before moving forward. Can we strike a balance between resource needs and marine conservation?
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Nodules, Metals, And No Rules
- Polymetallic nodules sit on the seafloor and contain cobalt, nickel, copper and REEs critical for many technologies.
- The International Seabed Authority is drafting rules because deep-sea mining currently lacks regulation and a safety blueprint.
Golf-Ball Nodules Analogy
- Gerard Barron of The Metals Company compared polymetallic nodules to golf balls sitting on a driving range that can be picked up easily.
- He argues recovering nodules has a fraction of the environmental and human impacts of land mining.
CCZ Is An Ancient, Nonrenewable Habitat
- The Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ) contains billions of slowly forming nodules that act as hard substrate for deep-sea life.
- Nodules grow only tens of millimeters per million years, so they are effectively nonrenewable on human timescales.