When the new Resource Frontier is on the sea bed 2km below the surface

As global demand for key mineral resources increases, the search for new resource locations intensifies. The latest resource frontier to be exploited looks like it will be via robot machines scouring the deep ocean floor.

Canadian company 'Nautilus Minerals' is due to start operating a small fleet of robot ore-collecting and crushing vehicles on the ocean floor off the coast of Papua New Guinea in the coming months. The sea bed around volcanic hydrothermal vents is often the source of mineral nodules rich in key metals such as zinc, copper and manganese. Operating at depths of up to 2km, the machines will rove across the sea floor, collect nodules, crush them and pump the mineral-rich slurry to the surface for processing. In terms of resource potential, the ocean floors are a new and emerging resource frontier, but the likely environmental impacts on marine ecosystems are raising clear issues and concerns.  Read more about the plans in this article from the Guardian, and observe how the machines will operate in this video clip from The Economist below: