Deep-sea Mining
Seamounts are a possible future source of heavy metals. The growth of the human population and, with it, heavy industry, has pressed demands for Earth's finite resources. Even though the ocean makes up 70% of the world, technological challenges with deep-sea mineral mining have severely limited its extent. But with the constantly decreasing supply on land, many see oceanic mining as the destined future, and seamounts stand out as candidates.
Seamounts are abundant, and all have metal resource potential because of various enrichment processes during the seamount's life. Hydrogenic Iron-manganese, hydrothermal iron oxide, sulfide, sulfate, sulfur, hydrothermal manganese oxide, and phosphorite (the latter especially in parts of Micronesia) are all mineral resources that are founded by various processes and deposited upon seamounts. However, only the first two have any potential of being targeted by mining in the next few decades.
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Famous quotes containing the word mining:
“Any relation to the land, the habit of tilling it, or mining it, or even hunting on it, generates the feeling of patriotism. He who keeps shop on it, or he who merely uses it as a support to his desk and ledger, or to his manufactory, values it less.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)