Debates around the deep sea mining commercialization prospects are getting hot. The United States under the Trump administration is giving new life to this idea. This shift in focus comes as various stakeholders recognize the potential economic benefits and resource availability associated with seabed mining.
At the head of that group is a new, powerful consortium in Japan focused on developing mining and machines. This organization is the owner of some 20 patents pertaining to maritime mining, including a number of joint filings. Their expertise positions them as a key player in the rapidly growing and controversial field of deep sea mining. Their goal is to mine valuable resources from the ocean floor.
The coalition is currently in the process of testing an experimental underwater machine that collects seabed resources. So far, they have completed one test south of Japan’s Minamitorishima atoll. This new type of gear would help mine a multitude of valuable rare earth minerals from the deep-sea environment that are critical for modern high-tech applications. The collective endeavor to push the group’s technological know-how is bottomless. Simultaneously, it seeks to play its part in the global supply chain of critical and strategic materials.
The potential of deep sea mining is immense! It would open up new sources of energy that have been largely depleted on land and are increasingly more challenging to discover. Global demand for rare earth elements is increasing at an extraordinary rate. As a result, this boom has caused a desperate rush among government agencies and private industry to find other ways to extract latex from rubber trees.