Future Mining
“Fly me to the Moon, Let me play among the stars, Let me see what spring is like On a Jupiter and Mars, in other words” – what will we do to the Moon? Apologies to the singer and the writer of this famous song but it has to be said, who owns the Moon and any of the other celestial bodies? Of course, the answer is no one as yet but don’t hold your breath changes are on the way.
Currently there are several laws about Space including the major 1967 UN’s ‘Outer Space Treaty and International Law, Space Exploration on the Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies’, the 1979 ‘Moon Treaty’ as well as a host of other laws, pacts and committees. To put this into today’s modern context of laws and jurisdiction much is outdated, and the various powers having the biggest agendas.
Back on Earth there is the threat in mining the sea floors for metal ores. Fig1 shows what the miners are after and fig 2 is an artist re-creation of how rocks will be swept up like a tractor plowing a field. Pumped to the surface any residue will be dumped back into the ocean. So, what is the problem?
There are many concerns some of which research shows very little is understood how mining can affect the ecosystem or to put it another way what may happen to the biological communities that interact in their physical environment? We are talking here about several thousands of square kilometres most of which is in international deep waters. If this was on land it is like ripping up a large tract of the vegetation just to get to the rocks lying beneath without having to dig very deep from the north of Tasmania to Hobart!
Corporations set to mine for minerals have to be commercially viable as any miner and metal stock market will tell you. What is driving this new venture is the potential growth from clean technologies, and to do that will involve demand for lithium, graphite, cobalt, nickel, manganese, rare earth elements and copper in that foreseeable order. These are the metals for batteries, wind turbine, solar panels, and other new technologies. Why go for deep sea mining? First of all, not all metal ores can be easily extracted, the deeper the open cut mine or underground tunnel the greater the cost. Secondly, not all rocks are found in an accessible place simply because they are not there, and thirdly many nations have their own laws that would prohibit extraction in places that are deemed culturally and environmentally sensitive.
We have had so many environmental fights over the last 60 years from logging native forest to ‘banning the bomb’ and edging out fossil fuels that it seems both ridiculous and harmful to exploit beneath the waves causing more environmental damage. However, if you are a government of a sinking Pacific atoll with few resources to build sea walls as increasing global climate temperatures are now causing rising sea levels, what would you do? When a mining company offers you the finance to protect your island and its peoples then there has to be a good reason and that is to mine off shore the rocks that so many industries want. This is currently on the table for many poorer nations in places in the Indian to the Atlantic Oceans.
Back to the Moon. It would seem feasible to simply fly to the Moon and start digging what you want, where you want and how much you want to mine. To do that is feasible at least in the long term. The technology is possible but first there are two difficulties to overcome, water and air. Until now no country or private venture has landed at the poles where possibly there is ice. Digging will be easy but how to transfer the resource back to earth is something to overcome but it will happen. Supposing all of this is possible in the next thirty years, now the biggest hurdle is who owns the Moon or at least part of it?
Should there be laws in place on the Moon and Earth’s deep sea extraction? How can nations and corporations agree to do the right thing and how would you police such places? What are your thoughts to complex changing environmental situations here on Earth and the Moon?
Fig1
Fig2
