Venting sulfide chimneys on the seafloor.
Image by CSIRO

Most Australians are familiar with the idea that their wide brown land is a quarry to the rest of the world, but it seems they’re not so keen to see their deep blue oceans go the same way.

While many like to think our onshore reserves of mineral wealth will last forever, the reality is they are diminishing and miners and scientists are now looking to new frontiers to find new deposits.

For WA, one of the most promising of those frontiers is our ocean floors.

While there are currently only two offshore mineral mining operations in Australian waters – the largest being the Cockburn Cement shell sand mine in WA – there are some 31 pending offshore exploration, mining and retention licences according to the CSIRO.

Deposits of heavy mineral sands, shell sands, manganese, diamonds, phosphorate, and iron ore have already been identified in the waters off the WA coast.

However, a fear of the unknown could be the greatest hurdle to the unlocking the mineral riches on our ocean floors, according to a recent CSIRO report.

The report, on the environmental, economic, regulatory and social issues surrounding seafloor mining, found there were particular concerns with the levels of uncertainty about the environmental impacts of this type of mining.

Director of CSIRO’s Wealth from Oceans National Research Flagship, Dr Kate Wilson, said there was a role for science to play in overcoming those fears.

"Perceptions of risks are heightened when the risks are unknown," she said.

"Building detailed scientific knowledge about the impacts of this activity is essential to any development of Australia's seafloor minerals sector to ensure social and economic wealth while maintaining environmental integrity."

Project leader Dr Joanna Parr said there were some areas in WA were seafloor mining was already knocking on the door and it was important to build a socially, environmentally and economically acceptable foundation of which to develop seafloor exploration and mining operations.

Dr Parr said that depending on the type of mineral being mined WA could see a number of seafloor operations up and running within five years.

“Some commodities, such as sands and iron ore will likely be in the next five years – I believe there are already iron ore mines in the Kimberley that are bordering on seafloor mining,” she said.

“While other commodities, such as alluvial diamonds, where there are some huge title issues to be resolved, they are more likely to be at least 10 years away.”

Dr Parr said that now there was an understanding of the social issue involved in seafloor mining the next step was to understand the environmental impacts, many of which remain unknown.