A Relicanthus — a newly discovered species in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone — lives on sponge stalks attached to nodules. Craig Smith and Diva Amon, ABYSSLINE Project/ NOAA
Correction appended.
An international body is weighing a proposal that could be crucial in determining when and how battery minerals are extracted from the deep ocean floor — a decision with major repercussions for the future of electric vehicles.
Scientists and miners have long known that precious metals are found in abundance in the ocean’s deepest, most far-flung regions. The greatest trove is in the Pacific Ocean’s Clarion-Clipperton Zone, where nodules of metals like cobalt, nickel, manganese and copper lie on the ocean floor.
Many marine scientists say early research shows the nodules are the cornerstone of a complex ecosystem that extends far beyond the ocean floor. The nodules should be left alone, at least barring a comprehensive accounting of ecosystem impacts, they say.
In September, some 621 marine scientists and policy experts signed a resolution saying that “biodiversity loss will be inevitable if deep-sea mining is permitted to occur, that this loss is likely to be permanent on human timescales, and that the consequences for ocean ecosystem function are unknown” (Greenwire, Sept. 10).
But nickel and cobalt happen to be important ingredients in lithium-ion batteries. And the clean energy transition is stoking newfound hopes among miners that those minerals can be recovered in huge...
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