Electric cars drive deep sea mining

The world wants more electric cars. Until we have figured out how organic batteries will look like, cobalt demand will continue to increse. With less than 60 years left of the known land reserves, mining companies are heading to the seabed to get more of the silver white metal.

The demand for cobalt is expected to increase from 41.000 tons in 2017 to 117,000 tons in 2025. Global electricity demand could be 300 times higher in 2040 than it was in 2016. This is mainly due to the increase in electric cars production.

The Democratic Republic of Cobalt

Half of the world’s known cobalt reserves are in The Democratic Republic of the Congo. Since this blog is about the oceans, I will not go into the dangerous working conditions in the mines here. You can look at this report from the Washington Post to find out more about that.

Other countries have cobalt reserves too. Australia is on second place with 1.2 million tons. However, all lithium-ion industries use DRC cobalt in one way or another. This map shows from where the different parts in a battery comes from.

Submerge the machinery

According to US Geological Survey the cobalt reserves on land amount to about 7.1 million tons. With today’s pace, not only for batteries to electric cars, at 110,000 tons this will last 65 more years. US Geological Survey also estimates that there is more nickel, cobalt and other metals below the ocean seabed than on land. They predict that 15 per cent of the world’s cobalt extraction will come from seabed mining in 2025.

One of the big questions is how to mine without damaging life in sea. Australian DeepGreen, will collect thousands of tons of nickel, copper and cobalt-rich nodules using a vacuum system. These rocks are the size of a potato and look a little bit like a volcano rock.

Canadian companies have already developed machines for deep sea mining. And they are on their way to The Bismarck Sea outside Papua New Guinea. The Solwara 1-project is the first of its kind and will primarily extract gold and copper. Nautilus Minerals mainly owned by Russian and Oman mining companies med will operate herre. The project is very controversial and has been met with protests from several actors, including local communities and environmental organizations. But the company is steadfast saying they will continue.

Electric cars on algae?

Organic material like algae produce electricity and can be charged, like batteries. Scientists make good progress, but the big breakthrough is still in the future.