Deep-sea mining operations may wipe out recently found species, according to a study by a group of UK experts. Queen's University of Belfast's Elin Angharad Thomas stated, "Mining will destroy habitats and release toxic sediment plumes." Deep-sea mining is the process of obtaining metals from the bottom, such as copper, lead, and zinc.
Deep sea hydrothermal vents harbour some of the most extraordinary species on our planet. Lying at two to three kilometres below the surface, these extreme, insular ecosystems are powered, not by the sunlight-driven photosynthesis that we're used to, but by energy from superheated mineral-rich seawater jetting from cracks in the seafloor.