Literature Review – Is Deep Sea Mining a viable option?

The ocean seabeds all around the globe offer up a rich and plentiful supply of untapped mineral resources.  The extraction of these resources could go some way towards easing the pressure of dwindling supplies of minerals on land according to Fujita 2001; they state that extracting the rich deposits could be a financially viable option with the next 10 years.  In years to come we will become ever more dependant on the rich seabed deposits according to an article titled deep Sea Mining.   With the recent oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico still fresh in the memory, McCarthy 2010 states that this disaster has only served to increase tension and worries surrounding the prospect of deep-sea mining.

References

Birney, K. Griffin, A. Gwiazada, J. Kevauver, J. Nagai, T. Varchel, D.

“Potential Deep Sea Mining of Sea floor Massive Sulphides, A Case Study” (Internet) http://www.bren.ucsb.edu/research/documents/ventsthesis.pdf (14/10/10)

"http://geology.uprm.edu/Morelock/resdeep.htm" (Internet) (14/10/10)

McCarthy, M. (2010) "Deep-sea mining adds to fears of marine pollution" (Internet) http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/deepsea-mining-adds-to-fears-of-marine-pollution-2016292.html (16/10/10)