Legal experts say deep-sea mining cannot start until the ISA agrees how profits from the global seabed would be shared.

A cnidarian is attached to a dead sponge stalk on a manganese nodule in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone. Diva Amon and Craig Smith, University of Hawaii at Mānoa Picture an ocean world so deep and dark it ...

A cnidarian is attached to a dead sponge stalk on a manganese nodule in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone. Diva Amon and Craig Smith, University of Hawaii at Mānoa Picture an ocean world so deep and dark it ...

A robot the size of a small house crawls across the ocean floor like a giant’s pool cleaner, vacuuming up potato-sized rocks called polymetallic nodules. Packed with nickel, copper, manganese, and ...

Deep-sea mining targets mineral deposits on the ocean floor, typically at depths of 3,000–6,000 meters. Most attention focuses on polymetallic nodules—potato-sized rocks lying on abyssal plains—and on ...

The administration is seeking to fast-track the pursuit of strategically important minerals such as nickel, copper and rare earth elements from the seabed in U.S. and international waters. "The United ...

Drilling for minerals deep in the ocean could have immense consequences for the tiny animals at the core of the vast marine food web — and ultimately affect fisheries and the food we find on our ...

An underwater gold rush may be on the horizon — or rather, a rush to mine the seafloor for manganese, nickel, cobalt and other minerals used in electric vehicles, solar panels and more. Meanwhile, ...