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The perils and potential of mining mineral from the ocean floor : Up First from NPR : NPR
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Mining companies have long had their eyes on this treasure but haven't had the technology to access it. Now they do and the race to mine the sea floor seems poised to begin. Today on The Sunday Story, we head to the Bismarck Sea off the coast of Papua New Guinea. It's here that a massive mining ship was recently hauling up chunks of the sea floor from a mile down, trying to gauge the mineral wealth and the possible damage extraction might cause." /><meta name="cXenseParse:pageclass" content="article" /><meta name="cXenseParse:publishtime" content="2024-11-17T03:00:59-05:00" /><link rel="apple-touch-icon" sizes="180x180" href="https://media.npr.org/chrome/favicon/favicon-180x180.png" /><link rel="shortcut icon" href="https://media.npr.org/chrome/favicon/favicon.ico" /><link rel="icon" sizes="96x96" href="https://media.npr.org/chrome/favicon/favicon-96x96.png" /><link rel="icon" sizes="48x48" href="https://media.npr.org/chrome/favicon/favicon-48x48.png" /><link rel="icon" sizes="32x32" href="https://media.npr.org/chrome/favicon/favicon-32x32.png" /><link rel="icon" sizes="16x16" href="https://media.npr.org/chrome/favicon/favicon-16x16.png" /><meta property="og:title" content="Mining's New Frontier : Up First from NPR" /><meta property="og:url" content="https://www.npr.org/2024/11/17/1213718585/minings-new-frontier" /><meta property="og:type" content="article" /><meta property="og:description" content="Deep, deep down on the floor of the world's oceans, rare and precious minerals exist in abundance. Mining companies have long had their eyes on this treasure but haven't had the technology to access it. Now they do and the race to mine the sea floor seems poised to begin. Today on The Sunday Story, we head to the Bismarck Sea off the coast of Papua New Guinea. It's here that a massive mining ship was recently hauling up chunks of the sea floor from a mile down, trying to gauge the mineral wealth and the possible damage extraction might cause." /><meta property="og:image" content="https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2024/11/15/img-20241114-wa0005-fixed_wide-83a40b824b49b4b95db6d375b172a14796e37670.jpg?s=1400&c=100&f=jpeg" /><meta property="og:site_name" content="NPR" /><meta property="fb:app_id" content="138837436154588" /><meta property="fb:pages" content="10643211755" /><meta property="article:content_tier" content="free" /><meta property="article:opinion" content="false" /><meta name="twitter:card" content="summary_large_image" /><meta name="twitter:title" content="Mining's New Frontier : Up First from NPR" /><meta name="twitter:site" content="@NPR" /><meta name="twitter:domain" content="npr.org" /><meta name="twitter:image:src" content="https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2024/11/15/img-20241114-wa0005-fixed_wide-83a40b824b49b4b95db6d375b172a14796e37670.jpg?s=1400&c=100&f=jpeg" /><script id="npr-vars"> window.NPR = window.NPR || {}; 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Mining companies have long had their eyes on this treasure but haven't had the technology to access it. Now they do and the race to mine the sea floor seems poised to begin. <br><br>Today on <em>The Sunday Story<\/em>, we head to the Bismarck Sea off the coast of Papua New Guinea. 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srcset="https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2024/11/15/img-20241114-wa0005-fixed-645a816c955615805539d13adf97dc6f2fc9b472.jpg?s=1100&c=85&f=webp" class="img" type="image/webp" data-template="https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2024/11/15/img-20241114-wa0005-fixed-645a816c955615805539d13adf97dc6f2fc9b472.jpg?s={width}&c={quality}&f={format}" data-format="webp" /> <source srcset="https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2024/11/15/img-20241114-wa0005-fixed-645a816c955615805539d13adf97dc6f2fc9b472.jpg?s=1100&c=85&f=jpeg" class="img" type="image/jpeg" data-template="https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2024/11/15/img-20241114-wa0005-fixed-645a816c955615805539d13adf97dc6f2fc9b472.jpg?s={width}&c={quality}&f={format}" data-format="jpeg" /> <img src="https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2024/11/15/img-20241114-wa0005-fixed-645a816c955615805539d13adf97dc6f2fc9b472.jpg?s=1100&c=85&f=jpeg" class="img" alt="" data-template="https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2024/11/15/img-20241114-wa0005-fixed-645a816c955615805539d13adf97dc6f2fc9b472.jpg?s={width}&c={quality}&f={format}" data-format="jpeg" /> </picture> <div class="enlarge-options"> <a class="enlargelink" href="https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2024/11/15/img-20241114-wa0005-fixed-645a816c955615805539d13adf97dc6f2fc9b472.jpg?s=2600&c=100&f=jpeg">Enlarge this image</a> </div> </div> <div class="credit-caption"> <div class="caption-wrap"> <div class="caption" aria-label="Image caption"> <p> A crew member stands in front of a large grabber used to haul massive chunks of the sea floor from a mile down in the Bismarck sea of the coast of Papua New Guinea. The team behind the effort is hoping to find an assortment of minerals some of which are essential to green energy technologies. <b class="credit" aria-label="Image credit"> Willem Marx </b> <b class="hide-caption"><b>hide caption</b></b> </p> </div> <b class="toggle-caption"><b>toggle caption</b></b> </div> <span class="credit" aria-label="Image credit"> Willem Marx </span> </div> <div class="enlarge_measure"> <div class="img_wrap"> <picture> <source data-original="https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2024/11/15/img-20241114-wa0005-fixed-645a816c955615805539d13adf97dc6f2fc9b472.jpg?s=2600&c=100&f=webp" type="image/webp"> <source data-original="https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2024/11/15/img-20241114-wa0005-fixed-645a816c955615805539d13adf97dc6f2fc9b472.jpg?s=2600&c=100&f=jpeg" type="image/jpeg"> <img data-original="https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2024/11/15/img-20241114-wa0005-fixed-645a816c955615805539d13adf97dc6f2fc9b472.jpg?s=2600&c=100&f=jpeg" alt="" /> </picture> </div> </div> <div class="enlarge_html"> <div class="image_data"> <p class="caption">A crew member stands in front of a large grabber used to haul massive chunks of the sea floor from a mile down in the Bismarck sea of the coast of Papua New Guinea. The team behind the effort is hoping to find an assortment of minerals some of which are essential to green energy technologies.</p> <span class="credit" aria-label="Image credit"> Willem Marx </span> </div> </div> </div> <p>Deep, deep down on the floor of the world's oceans, rare and precious minerals exist in abundance. Mining companies have long had their eyes on this treasure but haven't had the technology to access it. Now they do and the race to mine the sea floor seems poised to begin. <br/><br/>Today on <em>The Sunday Story</em>, we head to the Bismarck Sea off the coast of Papua New Guinea. It's here that a massive mining ship was recently hauling up chunks of the sea floor from a mile down, trying to gauge the mineral wealth and the possible damage extraction might cause. </p> <aside id="ad-backstage-wrap" class="ad-wrap backstage" aria-label="advertisement"> <div class="ad-header "><span>Sponsor Message</span></div> <div id="ad-backstage-podcasts_Up_First_from_NPR" class="ad-config ad-backstage has-refresh-enabled" data-ad-config='{"network":"\/6735\/","site":{"desktop":"n6735.NPR","mobile":"n6735.NPRMOBILE"},"zone":"podcasts_Up_First_from_NPR","targets":{"testserver":"false","isPodcastEpisode":"true","storyId":"1213718585","agg":["1213771050","434975886"],"orgId":"1"},"location":"backstage","deferred":false,"isBetweenContent":true,"overflowCount":null,"hasRefreshEnabled":true,"isOutstreamVideoEnabled":true}'></div> <div class="ad-footer "></div> </aside> <div class="hr"><hr /></div> <p><em>This episode was produced by Andrew Mambo and edited by Jenny Schmidt. 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