A British team of scientists has discovered an underwater deposit of diverse minerals in the Atlantic, about 500km off the Canary Islands, which contains vast amounts of tellurium, used in the making of solar panels, wind turbines and electronics.

Written by Cecilia Jamasmie (mining.com)

According to the BBC, the deposit is located 1,000 metres below the ocean surface in a 3,000 metres-tall mountain known as “Tropic Seamount,” and contains tellurium in concentrations 50,000 times higher than in deposits on land. The finding, part of a broader research project called MarineE-tech, is significant as the deposit is estimated to hold 2,670 tonnes of tellurium or 5% of the global reserves.

The team of British scientists found valuable minerals atop an underwater mountain called Tropic Seamount (pictured), which is basically a huge flat-topped mound of some of the scarcest materials on Earth. (Image courtesy of UK’s National Oceanography Centre.)

Scientist are also studying the potential of another deposit, the Rio Grande Rise, which is located 1,500 km off Brazil’s southern coast, in international waters…[and] are also weighing up the relative risks and merits of mining the valuable resource on land as opposed to on the seabed.

They are not alone in this quest. For years, marine biologists and other experts have been trying to determine the impacts that seabed mining would have on aquatic ecosystem without reaching consensus yet. Through the MIDAS project, a group made up of researchers, industry actors, NGOs and legal experts from 32 organizations across Europe, is currently gathering data to determine what damage, if any, might be done by mining and so inform regulators of what needs to be put in place to protect the deep sea environment…

…The United Nations’ International Seabed Authority (ISA) …supports the activity…[having] issued 26 exploration licences to governments and companies, authorizing them to operate in international waters. Countries including New Zealand, Namibia and Papua New Guinea have also granted licences for seabed mining exploration.