Deep sea mining has been off limits thus far, both because it's awfully hard, and because governments haven't yet firmed up regulations around extracting minerals offshore. That might soon change ...

Why might the U.S. be interested in deep-sea mining, and what are the environmental risks? Here's what you need to know.

Life is beginning to return to deep-sea mining tracks in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone, but full recovery may be impossible. The seabed, cleared of metal-rich nodules in 1979, still shows visible ...