Dozens of ventures, most of them government-backed, have been exploring vast areas of the Pacific and Indian Oceans to assess their viability for mining and several companies have developed prototypes of “nodule collectors”, giant robotic machines that would drive over the seabed, gathering the rocks and piping them up to ships at the surface.
Claudia Becker, a senior BMW expert in sustainable supply chains, explains what led the car giant to decide against using deep sea metals. “It’s the fear that everything we do down there could have irreversible consequences,” she said. “Those nodules grew over millions of years and if we take them out now, we don’t understand how many species depend on them – what does this mean for the beginning of our food chain? There’s way too little evidence, the research is just starting, it’s too big a risk.”
The lack of detailed research, which only began in earnest in recent years, convinced BMW to support campaign group WWF, which is leading the push for a moratorium until more is understood.
Ms Becker says that mines on land, although plagued by allegations of child labour, deforestation and pollution, can at least be inspected and held to high standards. “With those mines we do understand the consequences and we do have solutions but in the deep ocean we don’t even have the tools to assess them”. She believes that deep sea mines can be avoided by turning to alternative, less damaging metals, designing batteries that require fewer minerals in the first place and developing a circular economy with far better recycling.
DeepGreen, which is planning to mine nodules in the Pacific, have released a statement saying the car companies were being ‘irresponsible’ in their claims. “Where exactly will BMW get the battery metals it needs to fully electrify its products, and with what impact to our climate? “Will Volvo customers really prefer rainforest metals in their EVs once they realise their dire impacts on freshwater ecosystems, indigenous peoples, charismatic megafauna and carbon-storing forests?”
There is a spectrum of views amongst scientists on the likely impacts and, according to one industry source, “it doesn’t spell the end of seabed mining, instead it reinforces the need for more research to answer the key questions.”
Meanwhile, WWF says more firms have been in touch about joining its No Deep Seabed Mining Initiative and it expects more to sign up in the coming months. Click here