http://www.newsweek.com/deep-sea-mining-worth-cost-environment-debate-1745421

Deep-sea mining has been approved for testing in the Pacific Ocean by the International Seabed Authority for the first time since the 1970s. The move has drawn widespread condemnation from environmental groups, with one Greenpeace campaigner saying the activity risks destroying an ecosystem "for the remainder of human history."

The Metals Co., a deep-sea mining company, has been permitted to begin testing its deep-sea mining equipment in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ) Exploration Area in the Pacific. This zone is around 1.7 million square miles of abyssal plain, with depths ranging between 11,500 and 21,500 feet.