Metal Wealth on the Deep Seafloor | In Person (Ryan Ranch)

Course Description:

In the last 50 years, mankind has realized that substantial metal resources are present in the deep ocean, in the form of manganese nodules, massive sulfides, and "cobalt crusts." These resources include strategic metals, lithium for modern batteries, and rare earth metals necessary for evolving electronic technologies. Techniques to extract deep sea metals are being developed, and in the case of manganese nodules, have already been experimentally applied. However, the environmental damage that may be associated with deep-sea mining is unknown and largely unstudied, and the economies of extraction are still to be determined.