Geography: Deep sea mining

The Promise and Perils of Seafloor Mining (good diagrams at bottom)
Oceanus Magazine/Woods Hole Institute

Deep-Sea Mining—Bonanza or Boondoggle?
NOVANext

In Deep Water: Governing the High Seas
from The Economist

Off the coast of Papua New Guinea (PNG), a remote island country in the western South pacific, the world's first deep-sea mining attempt is due to begin soon. Nautilus Minerals, Inc. will attempt to mine the ocean floor for gold, silver, and copper. The project is called Solawara I and will occur in the Manus Basin within the Bismarck Sea, part of PNGs territorial waters. Nautilus is also seeking permits to mine in the nearby waters of Tonga, Fiji, New Zealand, and other countries.

Ecological effects?
From cracks at the bottom of the ocean, hydrothermal vents spew out minerals which feed ecosystems that include 9-foot tubeworms and octopus. But these ocean-floor clusters of life are now in the way of humans' search for minerals.

While undersea hydrothermal ecosystems are about as remote as it gets, they may soon be endangered. Many lie in the High Seas, beyond the legal boundaries of any country. There is no single organization that governs the oceans as a whole, making precautionary protective measures difficult to implement.

Check out these videos of how their operations work:

Nautilus Minerals - Solwara 1, Papua New Guinea (no sound)
http://www.infomine.com/library/videos/2553c0/nautilus_minerals_-_solwara_1,_papua_new_guinea.aspx

Show: Innovations with Ed Begley, Jr. from Discovery Channel
http://vimeo.com/85364387

Location of the Manus Basin
by International Ocean Discovery Program - Oceandrilling.org

The Manus Basin, below, lies at the junction of the Pacific and Indo-Australian plates, which form a convergent boundary marked by the Manus Trench. Meanwhile, the basin also contains a divergent boundary marked "spreading center" on the map below.

Yellow boxes indicate sites of hydrothermal activity.

Big picture: the complex plates of the western South PacificThe major countries shown are Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands (east), and a northern peninsula of Australia sticking up at the bottom