Mining battery metals from the ocean floor could potentially eliminate or dramatically reduce most of the environmental and social impacts associated with the extraction of riches from the Earth’s surface, a new study claims.
According to a research published this week and funded by Canada’s DeepGreen Metals, a start-up planning to extract cobalt and other battery metals from the seabed, undersea mining generates up to 70% less direct CO2 emissions, 94% less stored carbon risk, as well as 90% less sulphur oxides (SOx) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions — air pollution from maritime transportation.
Mining the ocean floor would also eliminate the issue of solid waste, while using 94% less land and 92% less forest, the report reads.
The study provides a broader context for a deeper, multi-year environmental and social impact assessment (ESIA) being conducted by DeepGreen.
The company says the study will be the largest integrated seabed-to-surface deep-ocean science program ever conducted, with over 100 separate studies being undertaken.
For the rest of this article: https://www.mining.com/extracting-battery-metals-from-seafloor-beats-traditional-mining-study/