The Truth about Deep Sea Mining

not gonna lie? i am AMAZED that Subnautica actually depicted those nodules on the sea floor 'realistically'

Just so you’re aware, ctenophores, or comb jellies (seen at 1:47) actually are not bioluminescent- at least not in the way most people assume. In fact what you are seeing is almost always just light refracting off of their characteristic 8 rows of cillia, producing the well known rainbow effect. Many ctenophore species are indeed capable of true bioluminescence, but it can only be noticed in very dark conditions and is very rarely observed by those not looking for it. They’re also not true jellies, but I digress.

We have routinely failed to anticipate the far reaching consequences of our actions in the past. Now many are prepared to ignore more consequences to fix the problems they themselves caused. The creatures of the deep will not be the only casualties of these operations, and no doubt our meddling with an ecosystem we don't fully understand will only lead to even greater threats to the health of our planet in the future.

I like how you’ve done your sources. Numbered and then direct links listed

Honestly... seeing all this and understanding the forces and scales involved, along with the advances to access in the recent years, it seems almost easier to mine asteroids.

I used to have salt water fish tanks and a lot of these minerals were critical to coral development. If we harvest them out of the ocean at a massive scale, we might upset the overall mineral balance of the ocean.

Excellent video giving a sense of the nuance in this challenging conundrum. Thank you!

Beautiful production! Thank you for bringing this to us!

As with everything, more research has to be done. Man if only everyone understood how important scientific research is.

Honestly, you did a nice job talking about this subject. Ore mining in the sea with oil based technology, to power electric cars .. We all know it's a debate that mankind has to face. You explained how it would impact the environment (on land and sea) but also how it impacts countries where the rush on battery tech is quietly killing thousands. A conundrum, but a well explained one.

Great research and delivery, great stuff!

I suppose a skip car design like in blast furnaces might be a great method to lift these things. The weight of the bucket cancels out. You spend energy solely to lift the material and a bit to fight friction. One team underwater can collect material into a bucket and hook/unhook full and empty buckets when they get down. They just need to clear the area to not get crushed from above by a falling bucket Edit: and maybe the buckets themself can be used to transport compacted sludge back down

Correction: The toxic tailings at metal mines are also a product of exposure of metal sulfides and sulfur to air, forming sulfuric acid and metal oxides, not necessarily from processing. You can have naturally occurring 'acid mine drainages' from erosion of metal ore bodies- whence the Rio Tinto. There are no such sulfides in these highly oxidized open ocean marine sediments and not much sulfide in the nodules themselves.

I don't want to sound like a luddite so I will say yes, batteries are SO important for a greener future. But there is also merit in reduction of consumption too: we need electric cars AND less use of cars, with more efficient forms of transportation being the substitute. I know this is an engineering channel so talk about public policy that doesn't involve engineering wouldn't be as relevant, but I just wanted to include the thought. Also, this way, the dilemmas about interrupting ecosystems won't be as pressing.

In the Southern Pacific area is a large field of floating plastic debris that could gathered and turned into a substitute to swap for the current sea bottom coverage.

Any chance that slurry we are pumping can be used as a fertilizer on land, instead of pumped back down? I’m curious of the mineral and organic makeup of that soil.

The lengths humanity is willing to go to avoid building an electric train network are astonishing. Obviously like the video discusses, there are environmental tradeoffs everywhere and there isn't a single simple answer, but I'm definitely confused by the framing of this issue primarily around EV batteries when there are other green transit and energy alternatives that don't require precious metal extraction at unprecedented levels.

As a mining engineer I can testify no one is going to take on a project like this. There are too many risks and the logistics for ore will be nightmare. There are still a lot more resources on surface of the earth that are predictable and profitable.

Wouldnt an archimedes screw be a much more elegant solution to the trasportation issue?

I love watching Real Engineering... he makes such complex topics seem so simple !!!!