Most kids will spare an insect’s life when they see one. They will probably safeguard the place where the insect lays it’s eggs too. It’s life.
If they grow up with folks that can afford to buy stuff, they learn what consumer behaviour looks like: If it’s broken, don’t fix it. Buy a new one, because it’s cheaper. If they held that insect, or an animal in their one hand and the broken toy or t-shirt or shoe in the other, and had to choose which one to throw in the garbage, they would have realised that there is something very wrong with the logic their parents have taught them.
A new land of hope
The same kid travels to a desert. No vegetation. The only thing apart from the sand are millions of potato-size rocks spread as far as the eye can see. On the surface of each rock are eggs laid by a beautiful little creature. The kid wants to know what that creature looks like. All of a sudden dozens of bulldozers appear in the horizon. As they are getting closer, the kid can see that they are collecting the rocks. On top of the bulldozers are hundreds of meters long tubes and the rocks fly through them upwards. The kid realizes that this is not a desert, but the ocean bed. This desert land is called the Clarion Clipperton Fracture Zone, and has much more life than it appears. Never heard about it. What is this place?
Very few people know where the Clarion Clipperton Fracture Zone is, and even less will ever go there. It is in the northeastern equatorial Pacific Ocean, an abyssal plain of continental proportions between Hawaii and Mexico.
All you need is a nodule
Big things are about to happen here, and it may become a game changer in two aspects.
This place is home to the most abundant polymetallic nodule deposits yet to be discovered. Will nodule mining help us to take that giant leap needed towards the renewable energy shift?
Second, will the quest for metals be carried out the old fashioned way by destroying the natural world? Or are we going to pass the test and demonstrate how the next generation natural resources extraction should look like?
Mining is a risky business. Consumers and businesses have for centuries turned the blind eye to the irreversible damage of the natural world. Mining companies operating in fragile states get away with shady deals with the elites, leading to the extinction of local ecosystems.
Report from the Clarion Clipperton Fracture Zone
More than ever is investigative journalism needed. It’s crucial if we are to take informed decisions and hold responsible actors accountable for their actions.
Judging from an article in the Los Angeles Times in April, it seems like the needle is leaning towards the old-fashioned way of mining, but it’s not too late:
- Deep-sea mining companies portray their extraction methods as almost harmless
- Extraction contracts are awarded by The International Seabed Authority (ISA) with little scrutiny
- ISA has a weak mandate, with little transparency and accountability
- ISA demonstrates a laid-back attitude with regards to assessments requirements towards mining companies and use of existing scientific knowledge
- Lots of research still needed to map potential hazards
- Skepticism towards deep-sea mining among big companies such as BMW, Volvo Group, Samsung and Google
Pause!
In July 2021, 622 marine science & policy experts from over 44 countries urged a pause for deep-sea mining. The statement starts with the obvious: “The deep sea is home to a significant proportion of Earth’s biodiversity, with most species yet to be discovered. The richness and diversity of organisms in the deep sea supports ecosystem processes necessary for the Earth’s natural systems to function.”
This is very much true for an area the size of the EU (4,5 million square kilometers) and as wide as the United States.
Batteries and more
To date, even the best seabed miners have not succeeded. But, as we learn almost every day, the green economy is screaming for minerals. And for seabed miners this means billions of dollars just waiting to be extracted.
One of the main drivers for minerals are electric vehicles and the vision of zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 relies heavily on batteries.
Battery demand for electric vehicles will grow 40 times the next 20 years, and the overall demand for minerals, 30 times, according to the International Energy Agency. Cobalt demand will increase by 70 times and manganese 58 times by 2040. The demand will unavoidably lead to more traditional mining. Cobalt, manganese and nickel are among the minerals on the ocean bed, and deep-sea mining is by many seen as good money and as part of the solution.
The blind eye has gotten some green in it, and is no longer only nurtured by vanity and greed. That may be even worse for the natural world. The grey economy is being greened.
And the eggs in the desert? The eight-limbed mollusk deliberately lays its eggs on the hard substrate of the nodules as part of its vigil to keep its eggs safe from attack.
Your article helped me a lot, is there any more related content? Thanks!