Proponents say they want to dredge the seafloor for metals needed for clean technology. Indigenous Pacific Islanders call it a threat to life, culture, and the ocean itself.

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 ...

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 ...

You may be hearing a lot lately about critical minerals and rare earth elements. These natural materials are essential to ...

Scientific studies show substantial reductions in deep-sea biodiversity following mining tests, with impacts potentially lasting decades. Governments are split between environmental caution and the ...

At 7:45 a.m. one recent January day in American Samoa, a delegation from Greenpeace and Pacific Island partners sat in a ...

After sitting on the sidelines for nearly 30 years, the United States is preparing to dive into deep-sea mining. While the U.S. has long deferred to laws established by the U.N. Convention on the Law ...

Two weeks ago, I wrote that 50 or 60 years ago a common perception was that the ocean was the new frontier, and in the future, we would get our food, water and minerals from the infinite sea. There ...

A new study indicates that deep-sea mining could threaten at least 30 species of sharks, rays and chimaeras, many of which are already at risk of extinction. The authors found that seabed sediment ...