Deep, deep down on the floor of the world's oceans, rare and precious minerals exist in abundance. Mining companies have long had their eyes on this treasure but haven't had the technology to access it. Now they do and the race to mine the sea floor seems poised to begin.

Today on The Sunday Story, we head to the Bismarck Sea off the coast of Papua New Guinea. It's here that a massive mining ship was recently hauling up chunks of the sea floor from a mile down, trying to gauge the mineral wealth and the possible damage extraction might cause.

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