Mining Hydrothermal Vents on the Ocean Floor

http://nautil.us/blog/we-are-about-to-start-mining-hydrothermal-vents-on-the-ocean-floor

by dnetesn • 11 years ago

36 19 11 years ago

This is really cool. Our desire for technology has touched so many places on earth already, and finally we can take it back to our roots -- where life on earth began -- and destroy those ecosystems as well.

The absolute best part is that there's almost no oversight. No hippie can afford a sub that takes them to the bottom of the ocean, nor can they chain themselves to an underwater vent. Finally, resource extraction can happen without the interference of progress-hating communists and shortsighted government regulations.

krasin4• 11 years ago

Technically speaking, there're affordable underwater cameras: http://www.openrov.com/

Granted, out of the box they are corded, don't have an autopilot, and only rated for 100m dive. These shortcomings could be solved, if there's a demand for such submarines.

rgbrenner3• 11 years ago

That is a toy. Hydrothermal vents are at 2000m - 5000m. Meaning that this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pisces_V Just barely reaches the shallowest of those vents.

Since pressure increases at 14.5psi per 10m.. your toy can only handle about 145psi. To reach the vents, it would need to handle 2900psi - 7250psi.

Edit: here's an MROV that can reach 3000m to give you an idea of the difference. It's a Triton XLX 150HP: http://www.fertoing.com/uploads/gallery/438/962/d0dec0e81bce...

It's used on an oil platform to monitor drilling operations.

TimSAstro• 11 years ago

I call Poe's law!

pmx• 11 years ago

This just disgusts me deeply. Is there nowhere on earth that is safe from humanity's greed and disregard for the planet we depend on for our lives. In some ways I hope we never go intergalactic or even leave our solar system - perhaps the universe will quarantine us before we can infest the rest of it.

IndianAstronaut• 11 years ago

I would much rather us go mine lifeless asteroids than destroy geothermal vents.

Bluestrike2• 11 years ago

The solar system (and systems beyond it) are the perfect solution to that concern. Massive asteroid belts, lifeless planets and moons, jovian planets, and all of the rest of space's vast resources are practically limitless compared to what we have here inside the gravity well. There's no need to damage a planet's biosphere for resource extraction or industry when space offers us so much more once we get out there.

That won't stop a lot of very stupid people from protesting the one solution that'll actually solve these sorts of environmental problems, but that's going to happen regardless.

Interestingly enough, a lot of the engineering work for mining hydrothermal vents might have some interesting cross-applications for asteroid mining once we're outside of the gravity well.

detaro• 11 years ago

Did the Chinese lose a submarine recently?

sandworm1012• 11 years ago

People have been going on about mining the ocean floor for decades. The entire industry was arguably born out of a disinformation campaign (see Glomar Explorer) and has been bouncing in and out of fashion ever since. Every new player pulls up some rocks, build a few spreadsheets, and starts arguing commercial viability. Look deeply at those spreadsheets and you will find assumptions that X Y and Z minerals will spike in value because at current prices it isn't worth the effort.

Yes, governments are now selling "permits" but how much has been actually paid? I suspect those buying these permits have yet to fork over any cash. The acquisition of permits seems just a marketing stunt to draw in new investors. And the anger by environmentalists is just yet more publicity.

If ocean mining has a future, it isn't in the depths. Valuable substances can be extracted at the surface.

http://www.technologyreview.com/news/514751/novel-material-s...

hugh4• 11 years ago

Well, we've been "mining" the ocean floor for decades, for oil. This, of course, has the advantage of being liquid so it's pretty easy to extract.

For other stuff, I have no idea whether it's economical yet and it probably isn't (especially since the prices of most commodities are in a slump right now) but the crossover point has got to come some day, so it's reasonable for people to be hanging around waiting for it.

sandworm1012• 11 years ago

Unless that crossover into viability is preempted by some other technology. Look at oil. Everyone was screaming about the peek in supply capacity (peek oil) but that inflection point may have been preempted by a reduction in demand (fracking, electric cars, solar etc). The viability of mining the seafloor could similarly be preempted by new tech.

Oceanfloor work has already seen one such preemption: manned operations. Back in the 60s-90s everyone was talking about sending people down, but that was preempted by improvements in robotics, especially fiber optics.

Turing_Machine• 11 years ago

There are a few other exceptions and borderline cases. Some mines (mostly coal, but I believe the old Cornish tin mines were also this way) extend under the sea.

Near-shore mining has been producing gold in Nome, Alaska for over a hundred years. I imagine a gold strike as rich as the original Nome find would be economical to work at quite a considerable depth, and it seems almost certain there are some of those.

digi_owl• 11 years ago

Paging Peter Watts.

scopecreep• 11 years ago

Did the Russians lose another submarine?

Mining Hydrothermal Vents on the Ocean Floor

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