Mining the deep: China seeks sulphide minerals in international seas

Last month, the International Seabed Authority adopted regulations for mining international sea bottoms for polymetallic sulphides. China stepped up to the plate, applying to explore a section of the Southwest Indian Ridge (SWIR)—where the African and Antarctic tectonic plates converge—for minerals, many of which are valuable to the electronic industry.

The seabed of interest features dormant hydrothermal vents. Like deep-sea chimneys, the former ‘black smokers” (shown right in the Atlantic Ocean) once spewed dark clouds of sulphides. As the sea dust eventually settled, it left rich deposits of copper, cobalt, lead, zinc, and nickel, more than 5,000 feet below the Indian Ocean surface. Gold and silver may be there, too.....read on