In September of 2017, The Japan Times reported that Japan had successfully mined zinc, gold, and other minerals from a deep-water seabed off the coast of Okinawa. It turned heads in the mining industry, and though the operation was just an initial trial, it pointed the way toward what could become a massive deep-ocean mining industry. And that is sparking renewed concerns among scientists about how this new gold rush will affect the unique creatures living off these ore deposits.
The Okinawa deposits, located over 5,000 feet below the sea surface, are formed by underwater geysers called hydrothermal vents. These are chimneys on the seafloor that spew out hot plumes rife with zinc, nickel, copper, and other rare elements; when the plumes...
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