I think there are three main problems, that aren't considered properly:
- Deep sea mining is not intended and will not replace mining on the surface. If anything we will mine more cheaper and with additional impact on the environment.
- The deep sea and the ecological environment remains widely unknown. We could be attacking species we don't even know and kill animals, that are essential for ecosystems. If we take the nodules we also take the only solid ground in this muddy depths we know so far. Which leads to my third problem -
- The amount of time those species need to grow is gigantic. Everything is slower with reduced sunlight, so is growth. You simply can compare the ocean ground with forest in that it takes up to or even more than thousand years (estimated) to regrow. Some squid species need 4 years just to breed their eggs. Microbiology is slowed down just as dramatically. This leads to the assumption that we won't kill for regrowing, but for good. Deep sea mining robots might cut dead strips into the ocean that will never recover.
I completely understand the economic argument and the worldwide hunger for resources, but money can't be the final answer and reason for our actions especially when will still don't use the current resources like we value them.
Also reasoning with environmental issues, like the need of rare elements sounds really counterintuitive considering we "kill ecosystems to protect them?"
If we would really care for the environment we would recycle, but we want this materials cheap and that is the only reason we try to get this working.
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