Will the United States Mine Deep-sea Seabeds?

[Sea Save Foundation]

A rich deposit of rare earth elements including tellurium was found 300 miles off of the Canary Islands. The tellurium, which is used in solar panels, found in the seabed was 50,000 times higher than land deposits. The other rare earth elements found are used in wind turbines and electronics. Will this start a rush to deep-sea mining soon? Check out number 7 to read more.

 

[Rhone Man]

It is an interesting question. I am not sure that there is a clear cut answer. Surface mining on land has been horribly destructive over the course of human history, so people will naturally worry about underwater mining.

My gut feel is that we have moved on, and any undersea mining is likely to be conducted under much more rigorous environmental safeguards. So long as we are happy it is being sufficiently regulated, I'm ok with it.