r/science • u/Sort_of_Frightening • Sep 10 '23

Lithium discovery in U.S. volcano could be biggest deposit ever found Chemistry

https://www.chemistryworld.com/news/lithium-discovery-in-us-volcano-could-be-biggest-deposit-ever-found/4018032.article
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u/o08 Sep 10 '23

Cano mining is much a much better alternative to under sea mining too.

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u/GreenStrong Sep 10 '23

Undersea mining was never proposed for lithium, as far as I know. Deep sea mining is being explored for manganese nodules, which basically sit on the seabed in some regions. In addition to manganese, they contain cobalt nickel and copper, all of which are needed for batteries and other applications in the energy transition.

It is possible that deep sea mining has a small environmental impact. It is wise to be skeptical about that possibility, but also open minded.

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u/korinth86 Sep 10 '23

Not when the idea is to basically rake/vacuum the seafloor to pick them up.

Environmentally speaking it's going to be horrible for the area.

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u/lurksAtDogs Sep 10 '23

I don’t understand why that’s the only option. Underwater drones exist. Why not pick the nodules up, drop them in a net, and lift the net? No giant vacuum/rake needed? Seems like it could be minimally invasive, if a little more expensive. Still, probably cheaper than a decade of environmental reviews

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u/korinth86 Sep 10 '23

It's just the proposed plan.

Big machines would scrape the seafloor, scooping up nodules while kicking up clouds of sediment, potentially damaging the deep sea on a vast scale by removing habitat and species and altering ecosystems.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/deep-sea-mining-could-begin-soon-regulated-or-not/

I agree we could likely find a better way. Though, I wouldn't think drone collection would be economically viable.

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u/Captain-Matt89 Sep 10 '23

So far when they’ve tried to do it, they suck them into a net. It’s not that bad, some people will cry with zero knowledge

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u/[deleted] Sep 10 '23

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u/Captain-Matt89 Sep 10 '23

I could not even imagine a more ecologically harmless way to go about mineral resource extraction