When we think of deep sea mining, we imagine a future concern—ominous robot trawlers scouring the abyss. But what if I told you the deep ocean has already been scarred… and we’re only now seeing the evidence?

In July 1970, a U.S. company called Deepsea Ventures used a vacuum-like machine to dredge up polymetallic nodules from the Blake Plateau (off the East Coast). They collected 60,000 nodules—valuable lumps rich in cobalt, nickel, and manganese. It was a bold wild west moment at sea.

Fast-forward to 2022: ocean scientists sent a robot back to the site. What they found was chilling—“train tracks” etched for 43 km, laying bare bare scars in the mud. In those paths, life had not returned. No nodules. No sponges. No fish. Just a sterile, lifeless corridor.

That test was one month long—and its impact lasts over half a century. Areas untouched, even nearby, are flourishing with biodiversity. Yet the dredged zones remain barren. More than 50 years later, and there’s been no meaningful recovery at all.

This isn’t theoretical—it’s deep sea amputation. The news shouldn’t be: “What could go wrong?” It should be: “What already did—and hasn’t fixed itself?”

Miners are pitching to scoop nodules from the Clarion‑Clipperton Zone or other deep-sea hotspots with the assumption that nature can bounce back. But the Blake Plateau tells a very different story.

Marine biogeochemist, Dr Samantha Joye who was part of the research team in the Blake Plateau described the region as: “On fire with bioluminescence and abound with wildlife. Huge fish, small fish and jellyfish. Shrimp, sea slugs, octopuses and hundreds of squid.”

“I have worked all over the place, and my mind was blown on the Blake Plateau. I mean, it’s just spectacularly diverse,” says Joye.

Among the abundance of life, though, a section of the Blake Plateau is barren with the scars from the world’s first deep-sea mining pilot test carried out in 1970. 

This story should serve as valuable evidence of what we shouldn’t do…which is mine a biodiverse ecosystem we know so little about.