Invisible clouds of sediment created by underwater mining spread for miles, putting ocean floor ecosystems at risk.

The Wild West is alive and well — it just moved underwater. As nations and companies race to stake their claim in the deep sea, industry is moving faster than regulation can keep up. This year, the ...

A cnidarian is attached to a dead sponge stalk on a manganese nodule in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone. Diva Amon and Craig Smith, University of Hawaii at Mānoa Picture an ocean world so deep and dark it ...

The Trump administration, with the support of many congressional Republicans, is looking to boost deep-sea mining as a way to ...

A DW investigation traces the hidden financial web behind deep-sea mining — an industry scientists say remains poorly understood, yet capable of causing irreversible harm to oceans worldwide.

Along the industry-laden Gulf Coast, a new type of extractive industry is taking shape. Two deep-sea mining companies recently applied for US permits to mine minerals from the seabed, both in US ...

Deep-sea mining is the extraction of minerals from the seabed in the deep ocean. Most of the interest is in what are known as polymetallic nodules, which are potato-sized mineral deposits that have ...

President Trump’s April executive order aims to accelerate U.S. deep-sea mining, stockpile critical minerals, and reduce reliance on China for rare earths and battery metals. Companies like TMC The ...

Mining the seafloor for valuable metals could send dangerous ripples through ocean food webs. Tiny floating plankton, the base of the food web, can accidentally ingest particles of sediment kicked up ...

The deep sea, the planet’s most expansive and least understood ecosystem, remains largely unexplored. Yet while the deep sea may seem a dark and distant space, events underwater directly impact our ...

Deep-sea mining targets mineral deposits on the ocean floor, typically at depths of 3,000–6,000 meters. Most attention focuses on polymetallic nodules—potato-sized rocks lying on abyssal plains—and on ...

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