Problem: Earlier today, I was watching some old 60 minutes clips. One video which I found fascinating was this 2019 report about deep sea mining. In it, Bill Whitaker described the Clarion-Clipperton Zone where millions of deep sea nodules sit and hold the metals (nickel, copper, cobalt, and more) required for humans to create the electronics of the future. As Whitaker describes:
… [there was a] giant fields of nodules covering an alien landscape [the bottom of the sea]. Millions of years old, the nodules grow by absorbing metals from the seawater expanding slowly around a core of shell bone or rock. The potential is staggering estimates of their worth run from eight to more than 16 trillion dollars.
They are primarily found in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone or CCZ. [An area of] about 2 million square miles of ocean between Hawaii and Mexico
… [The UN has] already divided the CCZ into dozens of concessions. DeepGreen [now known as The Metals Company] operates two the concessions. The company calculates the Nickel and Cobalt in their patch of ocean alone is enough to make batteries for 150 million electric cars.
Is this industry one that could create a profitable business, or are the environmental harms too large to invest further?
As of 2022, there has been no commercial mining of seabed minerals.
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Solution: This business would focus on the most minimally invasive methodology for harvesting nodules. It’s mission would be to engage in ethical, environmental deep-sea harvesting. Some examples of how this may happen pervade all parts of the mining process from top to bottom.
An image of the nodules packed with Nickel, Cobalt, Copper, and Manganese
Use the image below to track the 3 environmental improvements that I see from bottom to top:
Pliable, Soft-materials Collection: Rather than collecting nodules with a nodule collector and a high-emission plume, this business would create technology which is significantly softer and less metallic or disruptive. Current nodule collectors drive on the sea floor which disrupts species that we don’t know about and leaves a mess of human footprint in it’s wake. Instead, this business would invest in soft-robotics to create plastic based or more pliable materials for collection.
Solar Powered Mining Vessels: Each of the mining vessels from this company will be solar powered or nuclear powered: thus being much more efficient and effective than other methodologies of ship transport.
Eliminating the Discharge Pipe & Riser: One problem with the discharge pipe and riser is that it expels fumes and dust into the disphotic zone of the ocean. This both disturbs ecosystems and potentially harms wildlife that may have been contained or around the riser or discharge pipe. Instead, the business would focus on underwater drones or other devices which could physically pick up and move nodules.
That said, there is still a huge environmental threat even with these changes. As reported by the BBC, this in-depth description of where to learn more from The Ocean Foundation, stories of the activists against deep-sea mining, and specific notes about the CCZ along with in-depth articles.
Monetization: Selling either these devices to existing deep-sea mining companies or selling materials collected as a deep sea company.
Contributed by: Michael Bervell (Billion Dollar Startup Ideas)