First deep-sea mining licence granted - Polidicks

[release]Papua New Guinea's government has granted the world's first deep-sea mining licence to a Canadian company named Nautilus Minerals, who want to operate in the Bismarck Sea. The company's Solwara 1 project sits at 1.6km below the surface of the sea, 50km north of the nearest port, the volcano-threatened Rabaul. Early surveys have found high-grade copper and gold deposits close to the sea floor, which Nautilus reckons will be lucrative enough to exploit on a commercial scale. The technology behind the process is complex. It takes aspects from undersea oil and gas exploration, combines dredging processes and adds a smattering of the kind of principles that govern open pit mining. A preparatory machine called an "auxiliary cutter" (AC) flattens out the sea floor to create a surface that a "bulk cutter" (BC) can operate on, ripping the ore apart. That ore is then left on the sea floor and collected by a "collecting machine" (CM), which sucks it up into a tube and pushes it through a pipe to the "riser-and-lifting system" (RALS), which sends it to a boat at the surface. On the deck of the boat, the slurry coming up from the sea bed is filtered, with the water then being sent back down the pipe to the seabed, where it's released. A transportation barge then hauls it to a stockpile in the port of Rabaul. As it's a relatively new process, the environmental impacts of a full-scale deep sea mining operation aren't yet known. There's concern that sediment plumes and increased toxicity of the water column could result, as well as significant and permanent damage to ecosystems in the Benthic zone, and the deep-sea organisms that inhabit it. We know very little about such organisms, as almost all observation must be done by remote-controlled submarine. There's also concern about leakage, spills and corrosion from the equipment used to conduct the mining. The lease has been granted for an initial term of 20 years, which Nautilus hopes will be sufficient time to get out enough of the 2.2 million tonnes of mineralised material thought to be in the area. It'll take a while to get up to speed, though -- about two and a half years for the project to become commercially viable. If it proves successful, Nautilus also has its eye on the territorial waters of Fiji, Tonga, the Solomon Islands and New Zealand, which may also harbour commercially exploitable minerals.[/release] [url]http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2011-01/20/deep-sea-mining[/url] As cool as this sounds, the effects are entirely unknown. I have multiple concerns about this. Copper is toxic to invertebrates and will certainly impact the environment if excess amounts are put into the water column. Not to mention stirring up the seemingly lifeless ocean floor has it's dangers too. Everything that has died in the ocean settles on the bottom and seeps into the ground. The ocean floor is essentially the centuries old remains of sea creatures. Stirring it up may trigger a chemical imbalance in the area. It seems entirely possible that wherever these mining operations go, will become a deadzone. [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_zone_%28ecology%29[/url] Not to mention the sediments on the floor are an entire ecosystem in their own respect, one that has yet to be fully explored and understood. I hope the engineers behind this thought about the environmental impact rather than how much short term profits they will generate. But knowing how oceangoing industries go, they probably haven't. With that in mind, This field opens the window a new source of raw materials for humanity, as well as more job security for me. Let's hope it works right.

Where's my Jupitar mining Licence?

I'm sure they'll work something out. [sp]That or they'll just ignore all life down there[/sp]

[QUOTE=Fatman55;27646216]I'm sure they'll work something out. [sp]That or they'll just ignore all life down there[/sp][/QUOTE] Fuck fish. We need copper and gold for our electronic needs.

Papua New Guinea's government is so fucking corrupt. [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toh98CPaK6o[/media]

Piss off. Out of my fucking ocean.

[QUOTE=Maloof?;27646529]Piss off. Out of my fucking ocean.[/QUOTE] Its not yours. Its everyones! And not everybody agrees with you. More people agree with this mining operation.

Hopefully they don't fuck this up... The world is fucking messed up already

Next, mine the moon hollow, we don't need the moon for anything what so ever.

[QUOTE=Richard Simmons;27646636]Its not yours. Its everyones! And not everybody agrees with you. More people agree with this mining operation.[/QUOTE] More people are interested in money or keeping their car on the road. Some people are interested in not burning the face off of this planet. Figuratively.

Think of the microbes living in the sand! [img]http://static.tvfanatic.com/images/gallery/helen-lovejoy-pic_168x185.jpg[/img] Won't somebody please think of the microbes!

[QUOTE=Richard Simmons;27646636]Its not yours. Its everyones! And not everybody agrees with you. More people agree with this mining operation.[/QUOTE] Let's destroy a renewable resource for the entire planet while we dig up a temporary mineral deposit for short term profits! The ocean is the most important thing on this planet. More important than the rain forests, more important than some company's profits. If this negatively affects the surrounding area then I am against it. If it can be done without harming vast amounts of ocean ecosystem then I'm all for it. But from the description, this will stir up a lot of waste, mud, and potentially toxic minerals into the water column. I am a scientist first, businessman second.

[QUOTE=Richard Simmons;27646636]Its not yours. Its everyones! And not everybody agrees with you. More people agree with this mining operation.[/QUOTE] Nice to see that people still have the gall to think they own the planet.

[QUOTE=BradB;27646967]Think of the microbes living in the sand! [img_thumb]http://static.tvfanatic.com/images/gallery/helen-lovejoy-pic_168x185.jpg[/img_thumb] Won't somebody please think of the microbes![/QUOTE] Copper is toxic to invertebrates. If to much copper seeps from the mines it could be devastating to local reefs. I can't imagine copper is to healthy for plankton either.(note: if you kill off the plankton you essentially destroy the head of the snake, the entire food chain will eventually collapse(plankton also supply earth with the majority of it's oxygen but who cares)) But if you're fine with the Bismarck sea being a dead zone go ahead and mine. You'll be destroying the lively hood of thousands of fishermen and the economies that depend on the cornucopia of food and resources a healthy reef and coast provide, but we have our bottom line to consider right guys?

inb4 Cthulhu

[QUOTE=BradB;27646967]Think of the microbes living in the sand! [img_thumb]http://static.tvfanatic.com/images/gallery/helen-lovejoy-pic_168x185.jpg[/img_thumb] Won't somebody please think of the microbes![/QUOTE] eh but that could apply to every footstep a human takes.

[QUOTE=Source;27647100]eh but that could apply to every footstep a human takes.[/QUOTE] Yeah that's why he's mocking it.

Underwater mining is something we definitely have to do in the future, all I'm saying is we have to be careful and consider the impact and potential result.

[QUOTE=OvB;27647129]Underwater mining is something we definitely have to do in the future, all I'm saying is we have to be careful and consider the impact and potential result.[/QUOTE] Companies don't give a crap about anything other than money and profit.

hopefully its not like andromeda effect and we all die from futures viruses due to no more ground in the ocean!

[QUOTE=OvB;27647129]Underwater mining is something we definitely have to do in the future, all I'm saying is we have to be careful and consider the impact and potential result.[/QUOTE] Consider it a stop gap until we can make mining the moon and asteroids economically viable, I guess, to do which we'll need the resources down there. On the other hand, I'm not particulary keen on the possibilities of things like the long carbon cycle being fucked up.

[QUOTE=healthpoint;27647073]inb4 Cthulhu[/QUOTE] :cthulhu: do not like mining

what a bunch of inspirationless names for the machines

ib4 Minecraft joke.

[QUOTE=The mouse;27646039]Where's my Jupitar mining Licence?[/QUOTE] [img]http://www.reddwarf.co.uk/database/ships/images/RedDwarfA1.jpg[/img] don't forget your vessel

im thinking of cloverfield for some reason from this article.

[QUOTE=pyschomc;27653833]im thinking of cloverfield for some reason. f this article.[/QUOTE] It could very well happen..

[QUOTE=OvB;27647071]Copper is toxic to invertebrates. If to much copper seeps from the mines it could be devastating to local reefs. I can't imagine copper is to healthy for plankton either.(note: if you kill off the plankton you essentially destroy the head of the snake, the entire food chain will eventually collapse(plankton also supply earth with the majority of it's oxygen but who cares)) But if you're fine with the Bismarck sea being a dead zone go ahead and mine. You'll be destroying the lively hood of thousands of fishermen and the economies that depend on the cornucopia of food and resources a healthy reef and coast provide, but we have our bottom line to consider right guys?[/QUOTE] Canadian companies seem to have a decent track record for environmental responsibility, even when operating internationally, so I really hope your concerns are unfounded

Fuck them, let's mine all the valuable shit so we can build more mining machinery so we can mine even more.

[QUOTE=OvB;27647012]Let's destroy a renewable resource for the entire planet while we dig up a temporary mineral deposit for short term profits! The ocean is the most important thing on this planet. More important than the rain forests, more important than some company's profits. If this negatively affects the surrounding area then I am against it. If it can be done without harming vast amounts of ocean ecosystem then I'm all for it. But from the description, this will stir up a lot of waste, mud, and potentially toxic minerals into the water column. I am a scientist first, businessman second.[/QUOTE] Business first, science second. Learn the fucking food chain.