Venture to Mine Minerals from the Depths of the Sea is Threatened

[Seabastian.Smith]

A groundbreaking undersea venture hopes to use robots operating a mile deep to mine the sea floor near hydrothermal vents off the coast of Papua New Guinea that deposit copper, gold and other minerals.

Papua New Guinea agreed in 2011 to pay 30 percent of the costs to build the Solwara 1 project in the Bismark Sea, however now they are backtracking on that agreement. Nautilus' shares have tumbled 60 percent since it said in mid-November it was laying off 60 workers and halting assembly work on the project to save cash.

[Ulrik]

This will be a real shame if it is not completed. mining minerals from the seabed just seems like an incredible idea, and if it works efficiently then where will it stop?

The oceans cover much of the earth, if we could start mining the seabed then could that open up new abundances of resources?

[Tom Hitchcock]

It makes sense that minerals would form around the vents of hydrothermal geysers, yet how much is deposited there? I wouldn't have thought too much could have formed, but maybe I'm wrong if Nautilus is thinking of using robots to mine the sea floor for these minerals, not a cheap undertaking I wouldn't have imagined.