A mining robot at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean at a depth of more than 4 km (13.000 feet) has unhooked from the cable, the Belgian company carrying out the tests reports.
Global Sea Mineral Resources (GSR), the exploration division of the DEME Group dredging company, is testing Patania II. It is a 25-ton prototype mining robot, in its dealership in the Clarion Clipperton area since April 20.
The machine aims to collect potato-sized nodules rich in cobalt and other metals crucial for car's battery performance, which dot the seabed in this area. It is connected to the GSR ship with a 5km cable.
“During its last dive in the GSR area, Patania II separated and is now at the seabed,” a company spokesperson writes in an email statement. “The operation to reconnect the miner robot begins this evening and we will provide an update in due course.”
Not a good start
GSR tests are monitored by independent scientists from 29 European institutes. They will analyze data and samples collected by the mining robot to measure the impact of mining on the seabed.
Although several companies and countries have seabed exploration contracts, the regulations governing deep-sea mining have not yet been finalized by the International Seabed Authority, the United Nations body that has the power to grant these licenses.
Robot miner and excavations in the depths of the sea: the doubts are many
Critics, including the environmentalist David Attenborough, state that seabed mining has an unpredictable environmental impact. Google, BMW, Volvo e Samsung they supported the call for a moratorium on deep-sea mining.
The doctor Sandra Schoettner, a Greenpeace biologist, said: “The loss of control of a 25-ton mining machine at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean should make us abandon the idea of mining the deep sea forever.”
A GSR spokesperson denies that the company has lost control of the Patania II mining robot and says projects like this always have challenges to tackle.
The Belgian company says that it will only apply for a mining contract if science shows that seabed minerals have benefits. Environmental and social benefits, I mean, compared to just relying on land-based extraction.
