The UN regulator, the International Seabed Authority (ISA), predicts that searching the ocean floor for valuable metals is just a matter of time. The ISA oversees deep-sea mining and regulates mining activities in an area that covers around 54% of the world’s oceans. The practice of deep-sea mining is controversial because it involves the use of heavy machinery to remove minerals and metals. The end-use of these minerals include electric vehicle batteries, solar panels, and wind turbines.
The main drivers of industrial interest in deep-sea mining include:
- The potential to produce larger quantities of minerals
- Lower production cost as compared to land
- The exponential increase in demand for minerals
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