{"id":1179855,"date":"2020-04-22T12:25:19","date_gmt":"2020-04-22T17:25:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/?p=1021336"},"modified":"2020-04-22T12:25:19","modified_gmt":"2020-04-22T17:25:19","slug":"extracting-battery-metals-from-seafloor-beats-traditional-mining-study","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/?p=1179855","title":{"rendered":"Extracting battery metals from seafloor beats traditional mining \u2014 study"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Mining battery metals from the ocean floor could potentially eliminate or&nbsp;dramatically&nbsp;reduce&nbsp;most of the&nbsp;environmental and social impacts&nbsp;associated with&nbsp;the extraction of riches from the&nbsp;Earth&#8217;s surface, a <a href=\"https:\/\/3421n927z6wq3ktzng37wbqk-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/LCA-White-Paper_Where-Should-Metals-for-the-Green-Transition-Come-From_FINAL_low-res.pdf\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\">new study claims<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div class='d-flex justify-content-center d-xs-block d-sm-block d-md-none'>\n<div id='div-gpt-ad-1561499308230-0'><script>googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1561499308230-0');});<\/script><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>According to a research published this week and funded by<br \/>\nCanada\u2019s DeepGreen Metals, a start-up planning to extract cobalt and other<br \/>\nbattery metals from the seabed, undersea mining generates up to 70% less direct<br \/>\nCO2 emissions, 94% less stored carbon risk, as well as 90% less sulphur oxides<br \/>\n(SOx) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions \u2014 air pollution from maritime<br \/>\ntransportation.<\/p>\n<p>Mining the ocean floor would also eliminate the issue of<br \/>\nsolid waste, while using&nbsp;94% less land and 92% less forest, the report<br \/>\nsays.<\/p>\n<p>Unlike other seafloor miners, the company doesn\u2019t want to<br \/>\ndrill, blast or dig the bottom of the ocean. Its main goal is to scoop up small<br \/>\nmetallic rocks located thousands of metres below the surface in the Pacific.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Extraction of virgin metals&nbsp;from any source is by<br \/>\ndefinition not sustainable and generates environmental damage,&#8221;<br \/>\nsaid&nbsp;DeepGreen chairman and chief executive Gerard Barron. &#8220;We<br \/>\nbelieve the polymetallic nodules are an important part of the solution. They<br \/>\ncontain high concentrations of nickel, cobalt and manganese;&nbsp;they&#8217;re<br \/>\neffectively an EV battery in a rock.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The deep sea, accounting for more than half the world\u2019s<br \/>\nsurface, contains&nbsp;more cobalt, nickel, copper, manganese and rare earth<br \/>\nmetals&nbsp;than all land reserves combined, according to the US Geological<br \/>\nSurvey.<\/p>\n<p>The nodules DeepGreen <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/deepgreen-makes-run-at-battery-metals-from-seafloor\/\">plans<br \/>\nto tackle<\/a> are said to be made of almost 100% usable materials and are<br \/>\nnon-toxic, whereas land-mined ores have a much lower yield rate and do contain<br \/>\ntoxic elements.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Not enough studies<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The Canadian miner and other companies exploring the<br \/>\nseafloor argue the extraction of those deep-buried riches could help&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theneweconomy.com\/energy\/deep-sea-mining-could-provide-access-to-a-wealth-of-valuable-minerals\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">diversify the current sources of battery metals<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Academics and scientists, however, are concerned by the lack<br \/>\nof research on the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/mining.com\/new-zealand-deep-sea-life-needs-better-protection-mining-study-shows\/\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">possible impacts<\/a>&nbsp;of high seas mining. They fear the<br \/>\nactivity could devastate fragile ecosystems that are slow to recover in the<br \/>\nhighly pressurized darkness of the deep sea, as well as having knock-on effects<br \/>\non the wider ocean environment.<\/p>\n<p>Two years ago, the European Parliament called for a ban on seabed mining until the environmental impacts and risks of disturbing unique deep-sea ecosystems are understood. In&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"http:\/\/www.europarl.europa.eu\/sides\/getDoc.do?pubRef=-\/\/EP\/\/NONSGML+TA+P8-TA-2018-0004+0+DOC+PDF+V0\/\/EN\" >the resolution<\/a>, it also urged the European Commission to persuade member states to stop sponsoring and subsidizing licenses to explore and exploit the seabed in international waters as well as within their own territories. <\/p>\n<p>Shortly after, an&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/mining.com\/experts-come-up-with-plan-for-protecting-deep-sea-life-from-mining\/\" >international team of researchers<\/a>&nbsp;published a set of criteria to help the International Seabed Authority (ISA), a UN body made up of 168 countries, protect biodiversity from deep-sea mining activities. So far, it has granted 29 licenses to governments and companies, authorizing them to explore in international waters. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Research funded by Canada&rsquo;s DeepGreen Metals claims undersea mining generates up to 70% less direct CO2 emissions, and up to 94% less pollution.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1016,2849,369],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1179855"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1179855"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1179855\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1179959,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1179855\/revisions\/1179959"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1179855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1179855"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1179855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}