[Carlhole]

Thanks to NBF for this.

Minerals On Ocean Floor Could Provide Resources For 60 Centuries

It's easy to be a pessimist in a world full of calamities. But for those worried about the continuing availability of natural resources, data from the ocean makes a good case for optimism, says economic geologist Lawrence Cathles.

In a review paper published June 23 online in the journal Mineralium Deposita, Cathles, Cornell professor of earth and atmospheric sciences, writes that while land-based deposits may be a dwindling source of valuable minerals, deposits on the ocean floor could power humanity for centuries.

The minerals, including sulfur, copper, zinc, iron and precious metals, are contained in volcanogenic massive sulfide (VMS) deposits that form on the ocean floor where tectonic plates pull apart and allow magma (molten rock) to invade the Earth's 3.7-mile- (6 kilometer-) thick crust. The magma heats seawater to 662 degrees Fahrenheit (350 degrees Celsius) and moves it through the ocean crust via convection; and the seawater deposits the minerals where it discharges along the ridge axis.

And the ridge axis is what has pushed the continents apart for millions of years. I guess you could scrape minerals off the bottom at every distance away from the axis. There will have to be robots designed and built for mining the sea floor.

[SeaGypsy]

There is a thing called 'pressure'. http://oilgasglossary.com/pressure-gradient.html
To get reliable usefull gear down there it would have to evolve there, the pressure is so extreme; think of the weight of a few SUV's pressing simultaneously on the palm and back of your hand. That's how different the environment is. Very tricky stuff.Just thinking of how to do anything with hydraulics at such depths is confounding; modern mining relies very heavily on hydraulics.

[Carlhole]

There is a thing called 'pressure'. http://oilgasglossary.com/pressure-gradient.html
To get reliable usefull gear down there it would have to evolve there, the pressure is so extreme; think of the weight of a few SUV's pressing simultaneously on the palm and back of your hand. That's how different the environment is. Very tricky stuff.Just thinking of how to do anything with hydraulics at such depths is confounding; modern mining relies very heavily on hydraulics.

It's just another engineering problem.

[EnergyUnlimited]

Thanks to NBF for this.

Minerals On Ocean Floor Could Provide Resources For 60 Centuries

There is also plenty of liquefied NG on Titan, a lot of ready to mine platinides on asteroids and virtually inexhaustible stocks of hydrogen on Sun.

[Carlhole]

Thanks to NBF for this.

Minerals On Ocean Floor Could Provide Resources For 60 Centuries

There is also plenty of liquefied NG on Titan, a lot of ready to mine platinides on asteroids and virtually inexhaustible stocks of hydrogen on Sun.

Deleted another ad hom

[Outcast_Searcher]

This might make sense to me in the intermediate term for relatively rare or expensive things, like rare PM's and rare earths (if rare earths would even be available undersea).

For the common, cheap, base metals the article mentions like copper and zinc -- one would imagine that unless these things got AWFULLY rare above ground, that the cost would be totally prohibitive to mine these on the ocean floor, even if they're abundant there.

[americandream]

Plus we've ample supplies of bullshit to last us till then end of time.

[EnergyUnlimited]

This might make sense to me in the intermediate term for relatively rare or expensive things, like rare PM's and rare earths (if rare earths would even be available undersea).

For the common, cheap, base metals the article mentions like copper and zinc -- one would imagine that unless these things got AWFULLY rare above ground, that the cost would be totally prohibitive to mine these on the ocean floor, even if they're abundant there.

Unfortunately it takes about a tonne of ore to extract 1 gram of precious metal, so the scale of necessary mining would be as large as one needed to produce base metals where concentration of metal in ore is few % and more.

[Pretorian]

Plus we've ample supplies of bullshit to last us till then end of time.

hey do you know that with your spamming here you made Peakoil.com #21 website in your village? Justsaying.

[americandream]

Bullshit like I said, and lots of it from the self-appointed.

Plus we've ample supplies of bullshit to last us till then end of time.

hey do you know that with your spamming here you made Peakoil.com #21 website in your village? Justsaying.

[wisconsin_cur]

It is a simple question which could result in a helpful conversation about the scale and engineering advances necessary to make the process of mining the seafloor profitable (in energy or $). We could talk about the environmental effects of said mining. We could go lots of directions. I could learn something from this thread but in less than one page it has degraded into name calling.



Good work folks. Its your website. If you fill it full of manure, don't be surprised if you're mistaken for pigs.



Or you can hate each other all you like and try to demonstrate your points with rational (even polite) argument. It is much more satisfying to make your opponent look like an idiot with some good research and argument but that requires work.

[dolanbaker]

Getting back on-topic:

I suppose the main issue is whether it's worth going to the trouble of actually getting the minerials. The costs in fuel, engineering resources, materials & labour may just not justify the end result, it may be more beneficial to use an alternative or just do without!

[efarmer]

Okay China, that is 8 million metric tons of Mineral McNuggets, and one McNugget Happy Meal with a boy toy. We have a Bernanke and a Trump figurine to chose from so state if you have a preference at the window. You can supersize this order for one yuan or $600 USD, please drive around.

[Keith_McClary]

Good work folks. Its your website. If you fill it full of manure, don't be surprised if you're mistaken for pigs.

We have run out of oil we can afford to burn by JEFF RUBIN

I can’t help but reflect on how far the peak oil movement has come over the last decade

[RankineCycle]

It's the same issue as unconventional fossil fuels. I have no doubt that the engineering could be done, but the the high-grade energy/capital investment required to make it possible is another story. It will be a stretch to be able to provide cars to the other 6 billion people on the planet who do not have cars, or a new disposable cell phone to all of the world's people every six months.

Industry will certainly try and the misallocation of resources will continue, as we see in Africa where people live amongst roaring gas flares while they cook their food using dung, or next to multi-gigawatt hydro plants powering gold and diamond mines while they live in shacks lit with candles.

[Quinny]

I think iyou'd probably get a better EROEI from mining waste tips!

[EnergyUnlimited]

I think iyou'd probably get a better EROEI from mining waste tips!

They would go for metals and other minerals, not for energy, by doing that.
However you are essentially right.
To mine ocean floor it would take more construction metal (often in form of expensive, corrosion resistant alloys) than amount of metal which could be lifted up to surface in form of mined ore.
So the project would be a net metal drain, not a source.

Hence it is a senseless undertaking.

[Keith_McClary]

Mineral deposits formed at spreading centers become part of the seafloor as it spreads away from the center.
The seafloor is 0.3 billion km2.
That's a big strip mine if it's spread evenly.

The paper is behind a paywall. $34.00, anyone?