Huge rare earth deposits found

edinburgher

Huge rare earth deposits found in the Pacific

Sounds like a game changer - hopefully this should bring down the cost of expensive renewables, electric cars and the like. If agreement can be reached on extraction, consumers might find saving the planet a bit more palatable!

RenovationMan

So much for Peak Earth theorists.

CLAPTON

of course

rare earths are neither earths nor rare

edinburgher

So much for Peak Earth theorists.

Theories are only theories until they're proved one way or the other

michaels

So some fairly toxic stuff requiring acid for processing found at difficult to work depths in stormy oceans in international waters so ownership is unclear and environmental responsibility is zero - can't see anything going wrong with that then...:eek:

edinburgher

So some fairly toxic stuff requiring acid for processing found at difficult to work depths in stormy oceans in international waters

The scientists seemed fairly confident that it would be easy enough to get at. That said, there are plenty of risks associated to doing anything with lots of acid!

lostinrates

If these things are required for renewables, then doesn't it simply mean our renewable energy methods are not renewable???

Kohoutek

lostinrates wrote: »

If these things are required for renewables, then doesn't it simply mean our renewable energy methods are not renewable???

I think the rare earth minerals in solar panels or wind turbines are not consumed or lost forever in the manufacturing process and are at least technically capable of being recycled. Kind of like recycling consumer electronics I guess. Whether there's an economic case is another matter though.

Kind of ironic I think that it's necessary to inflict massive destruction on one of the world's most untouched ecosystems, much greater than anything caused by Fukushima, by conducting offshore mining projects in the name of "green energy". There are no panaceas where it comes to energy though I suppose...

shaggydoo

michaels wrote: »

So some fairly toxic stuff requiring acid for processing found at difficult to work depths in stormy oceans in international waters so ownership is unclear and environmental responsibility is zero - can't see anything going wrong with that then...:eek:

Just shows how desperate we are :eek:

The minerals were found at depths of 3,500 to 6,000 metres (11,500-20,000 ft) below the ocean surface.

edinburgher

If these things are required for renewables, then doesn't it simply mean our renewable energy methods are not renewable???

Well for an energy supply to be truly renewable, wouldn't it need to come from the void/appear as if by magic? Because almost everything in nature can be exhausted (or broken down into other, less useful forms). Entropy will get us all eventually

John_Pierpoint

Stop press 2009 "Massive oil field found by BP?"

The immediate problem is that it takes two or three years to re-open a mine and heaven knows how long to open something at the bottom of the ocean.

I saw an interview with a Japanese scrap merchant about 6 months ago (I'm not sure why he was being interviewed) and what he really wanted was old computers, especially the hard drives so he could reprocess the magnetic medium.