Chilling Read. Deep-sea minerals could meet the demands of battery supply chains - but should they?

[Budi]

"Could Deep Sea Mining Fuel The Electric Vehicle Boom?"


https://www.mining.com/web/deep-sea-minerals-could-meet-the-demands-of-battery-supply-chains-but-should-they/

Deep-sea minerals could meet the demands of battery supply chains – but should they?

The world is hungry for resources to power the green transition.
As we increasingly look to solar, wind, geothermal and move towards decarbonization, consumption of minerals such as cobalt, lithium and copper, which underpin them, is set to grow markedly.

One study by the World Bank estimates that to meet this demand, cobalt production will need to grow by 450% from 2018 to 2050, in pursuit of keeping global average temperature rises below 2°C.

The mining of any material can give rise to complex environmental and social impacts. Cobalt, however, has attracted particular attention in recent years over concerns of unsafe working conditions and labour rights abuses associated with its production.

CONCERNED SCIENTISTS HAVE HIGHLIGHTED OUR LIMITED KNOWLEDGE OF THE DEEP-SEA AND ITS ECOSYSTEMS

New battery technologies are under development with reduced or zero cobalt content, but it is not yet determined how fast and by how much these technologies and circular economy innovations can decrease overall cobalt demand.

Deep-sea mining has the potential to supply cobalt and other metals free from association with such social strife, and can reduce the raw material cost and carbon footprint of much-needed green technologies.

On the other hand, concerned scientists have highlighted our limited knowledge of the deep-sea and its ecosystems. The potential impact of mining on deep-sea biodiversity, deep-sea habitats and fisheries are still being studied, and some experts have questioned the idea that environmental impacts of mining in the deep-sea can be mitigated in the same way as those on land.
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This is sickening. It's the trade off for Petroleum.
And you know at this point there's a whole group of investors, buyers & profiteers drueling at the immense profit to be made off the deep blue seabed.

[brush]

1. Haven't we damaged the oceans enough, what with the oil spills...

the huge garbage gyres, the death of coral and countless other species, the warming? This kind of mining could be the beginnings of dead oceans which can possibly but result in a dead...

[Budi]

2. It's going to be really hard to control international regulations with profits like this will bring

Territory's already being grabbed up & regulations skirted.

[Miguelito Loveless]

4. As I posted below,

please look at the source of the story (mining.com).

Deep sea mining makes deep sea oil drilling look like playing with Legos. Exploration is much harder, and extraction is orders of magnitude more expensive. The price of these metals would have to increase about 5-10x before they could make a profit. What they are trying to do is discredit EVs and recycling. To meet climate issues and replace existing ICE cars with EVs, recycling has to be scaled up dramatically, which means less demand for mined ore.

Simply put, we have the technology to solve this problem now, but the solution will mean great detsruction of huge players in the oil/gas biz, and less profits for the mining biz.

[brush]

5. Got you. We certainly need to stay away from ocean mining.

[Miguelito Loveless]

6. Yes,

but as I say, recycling really has to be scaled up. Legacy auto companies hate EVs because it will destroy their dealership model, and result in huge losses from repairs. EVs have less than 20 moving parts in their drivetrains versus thousands in a conventional ICE/transmission drivetrain. No need for fuel pumps, water pumps, oil pumps, fuel injectors, radiators, alternators, mufflers, manifolds, transmissions, head gaskets, valve jobs, timing belts, frequent brake pad replacement (due to regenerative braking), oxygen sensors, catalytic converters, etc. Battery packs, despite much misinformation out there about longevity, have a useful life of around 20 years, 10-15 in a car, then another 5-10 as stationary power backup. After that, they can be recycled to recover a large proportion of their materials for reuse in new batteries (50%-70% using current tech, higher in the future).

Gasoline requires massive efforts to find, extract, refine, transport and dispense. Then it is burned once, and gone forever. Batteries can be recharged for years, and hundreds of thousands of miles. Million mile battery packs are heading for production in the next year, which is a MAJOR change trucks and other fleet vehicles.

We have the technology NOW to fix a lot of the energy problem, but fixing it means the old players are going to lose a LOT of money when they fail to adapt.

[brush]

8. The dealership business model, when viewed from EV v ETC vehicle...

perspective is doomed. The ETC vehicle industry will not go away without struggle though. But your post makes it clear that EV vehicles with their small number of moving parts to maintain on a regular maintenance schedule are the future.

God! What will happen to the millions of ETC vehicles in existence now, and will the auto industry keep making parts for them when they are eventually phased out? And then there is the whole gasoline distribution/filling station system?

[Miguelito Loveless]

9. We are already seeing the effects in the EU

Rapid charge and standard charge stations are going in at an ever growing rate, while conventional fuel stations are on the decline. We are also seeing a decline in the US, but that was chain stations pushing out Mom & Pop convenience stores.

Legacy automakers have painted themselves in a corner. They have denied that EVs would be a thing for two decades, and then started making promises to bring EVs to market in the last five years. Lots of promises and renders, but few actual cars. The ones that have come to market are overpriced and under-spec'd. The few that are worthwhile (Kia Niro, Chevy Bolt, Hyundai Kona) are hard to get (dealers will bend over backwards to talk you into buying something else) and rapid chargers for all models except Tesla are problematic in terms of location and reliability.

Now Tesla has proven their is a demand for EVs, and they have provided a nationwide (EU wide) Superchager network that is dead simply to use.

I have been driving EVs since 2014 and charge at home. I have replaced my oil burners with EVs/PHEVs and gasoline use is a fraction (about 1/12th) my pre-2014 use.

Once you drive an EV for a week, you never want to go back to gasoline/diesel. They are quiet, smart, quick, cheap and truly "I'm 16 and just got my license" fun to drive.

[brush]

10. I'm a golf duffer and drive the electric golf carts and know of their...

instant torque and quiet acceleration. There are speed governors on the carts but just from that I get a glimpse into what a full EV vehicle can offer. I see my next car will most likely be an EV.

[Miguelito Loveless]

12. If you get a chance and their is a Carmax in your area

Try out a Leaf, Bolt, or Volt. Heck they might have a Tesla. My first EV was the 2012 Leaf, and funny looking though it was (the pug of EVs) it could humiliate most all non-sport cars off the line. Most EVs have an "eco-mode" so make sure they are in "sport" or regular mode before checking their performance. The leap from a standing start is exhilarating.

If you are a two car household, and not an apartment dweller, the older ones with about 75-100 miles of range make excellent daily commuters. My personal favorite for folks who want cheap, but still need range, is the Chevy Volt 2016-2019. It is a PHEV, with 53 miles of electric range and 350 miles of gasoline. You can go a year without a fill up in normal use. The BMW i3 is similar (if you get the range extender model), but is pricier because "BMW".

[Miguelito Loveless]

3. Cobalt is being phased out of batteries

Copper is a highly recycled metal. Lithium supplies on land are quite substantial, and can meet the growing battery demand for some time. Heck, they are opening up hard rock lithium mines closed in the 90s as unprofitable. The major metal in need right now us nickel, which still has more than adequate land-based supply, that just needs to scale up production.

Deep sea mining is HIGHLY unlikely due to the huge cost and the environmental headaches. Please consider the source of this story.

The fossil fuel industry is bending over backwards to discredit EVs and renewable energy generation. The cobalt stories are popping up again (the most recent in Forbes) claiming that EV battery production will result in child slave labor, glossing over the fact that the oil industry (refining) and the legacy auto industry (catalytic converters) are a MUCH larger consumer of cobalt than the EV industry, and again, cobalt is being phased out of batteries.

The truth is every EV bought means 600-800 gallons of petroleum is not burned annually. That is called "demand destruction" by the oil industry, and means massive loss of profits for them. The NG industry is also starting to fight building code bans on gas heating, because electric heat pumps are more energy efficient, and far cleaner.

That said NO consumer good can be produced without the consumption of fuel, resources, and pollution. The issue is that gasoline/diesel/natural gas can be burned ONCE. Electricity from the sun (solar/wind/hydro) can be produced without burning anything, or digging anything out of the ground. In fact, solar/wind/hydro is the only power generation where the fuel comes to the generator.

[hunter]

7. Electric cars and wind turbines are not going to save the world.

Automobiles have huge environmental footprints. It doesn't matter how they are powered.

We ought to be paying people to experiment with lifestyles having very small environmental footprints.

This probably means comfortable urban lifestyles where people work near or at home and walk to the grocery store.

If most adults don't own cars, they won't be needing all those batteries or fossil fuels.

[Budi]

11. This ⬆️. Petroleum extraction vs Deep seabed mining.

There is no better of the two. But the profiteers currently vying for all the cards will sell the shiny new one using all the corret Green Terminology their marketeers can gather.

The seabed miners will treat the new-found ocean jackpot the same as they did with petroleum.

When the ecosystem of the seabed dies, once again we'll blame the extraction cos ratger than human beings' need to consume.

[brush]

14. A big point is that electric vehicles have less than fifty moving parts...

as opposed to the thousands of internal combustion vehicles and thus required mush less maintenance and manufactured parts to keep them running. Meaning much less mining of materials to make parts, not to mention the one-time use of fossil fuels/gasoline.

Electrical vehicles run on batteries that can be recharged over and over and over for years.

[niyad]

13. KNR