Mindless Mininning

As if us water babies didn’t have enough to cry about when it comes to the state of our oceans, rights to a new destructive mining process have been granted (by the Department of Mineral Resources) to three private companies that will directly impact at least 10% of South Africa’s marine environment. These grants extend across 150 000 km2 of seabed falling within South Africa’s western and southern Exclusive Economic Zone, impacting critically endangered ecosystems and our country’s most productive fishing grounds. Represented differently, you could almost squeeze 10 Swaziland’s in that area. The mining process in question is geared toward the extraction of seabed phosphate, a mineral of which there is no shortage of above the water line, so why we are even venturing bellow it is a mystery. Just like on land, mining in the ocean has dire consequences on nearby habitats and ecosystems, especially when you are quite literally chipping away at the very foundation of this aquatic realm. In order to access these minerals, a giant wheel with teeth known as a trailing suction hopper dredge is used, a technology that is both experimental and untested making it potentially highly destructive. This tool chews up the […]