Japan carried out the first successful test in 2020 to mine cobalt, a mineral used in the batteries in electric vehicles, by removing the crusts from the tops of deep-sea mountains. In addition to making directly mined areas less livable for marine life, mining also produces a sediment plume that can disperse throughout the water around it. Ocean animals have decreased in and around the mining zone, according to an investigation into the environmental effects of this first test.
Ocean animals vacate areas both around and outside deep-sea mining operations
