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While the idea of deep sea mining has only started to see significant effort in recent times, there were earlier efforts in the 1960s and 1970s. While they were first discovered in 1868, first recovered in 1873 and throughout the 1870s/1880s were found to occur in most oceans.

By that point there was already significant demand for many of the resources contained within manganese nodules. So there was already market for these resource. While in real life they only put effort into determining if they could be used as a source of resources in 1957/1958. But if there was significant interest they probably could have tried to figure it out earlier.

So if the mining industry became significantly interested in this source of resources around the time they were discovered, and this research was done earlier in the mid to late 1870s, how soon after could manganese nodules have been economically recovered and refined?

The resources committed to the extraction of deep sea manganese nodules would only be comparable to the potential gain, so an extraordinary amount of effort wouldn't be allocated, but there is backing by existing large mining companies so funding isn't too much of a limitation. Assume there aren't any large market shocks that would kill off projects.

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    $\begingroup$ That depends on how early the CIA needed to recover a lost nuclear submarine. $\endgroup$
    – Cadence
    Commented Mar 9 at 13:52
  • $\begingroup$ @Cadence i've looked into the topic and heard of that but it wasn't the start of interest in it. As mentioned in the question they figured out how to refine manganese nodules in the late 1950s and there was an actual experiment with extracting them in 1970 . $\endgroup$
    – OT-64 SKOT
    Commented Mar 9 at 13:55
  • $\begingroup$ You need high pressure jet to dislodged the nodules and vacuum them for retrieval at great depth, locating them in great concentration is also an issue since each hit and miss will cost dearly. $\endgroup$
    – user6760
    Commented Mar 10 at 13:10

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Market shocks are not the stopper. Seabed mining is expensive but doable and economically viable right now. However the irreversible damage to the ocean is an inhibitor amongst other factors. There is a lack of international regulations concerning it and environmental groups are opposed for obvious reasons.

I would posit that it could have been done viably when computers became mainstream items. They constitute a big market for the metals contained in the nodules.

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  • $\begingroup$ why only when computers become mainstream items? Manganese, Nickel, and Copper all had major demand since well before then. $\endgroup$
    – OT-64 SKOT
    Commented Mar 10 at 21:46
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I believe that the earliest it could have been viable would have during the advent of the earliest submarines. The earliest submarine viable for our purpose was the infamous Turtle submarine built in 1776 and which served in the American Revolution. While this primitive sub would not be able to achieve deep sea mining something like the Sub Marine Explorer built in 1863 and capable of diving over 100 feet could be used to dredge up Manganese Nodules in shallow water with some sort of primitive claw extending from the vessel and the Nodules could be spotted through a glass window. While these nodules are found most common in Abyssal plains they are sometimes found in shallow water and even lakes. Perhaps for story purposes some shallow coastal seabed could have an abundance of these. I believe that this type of mining could be viable as early as the 1910s if the need for Manganese was great enough to risk such a dangerous indeavor.

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