Researchers in the US have begun developing seawater mining technologies after estimating that just 0.1 percent of seawater has enough critical minerals to supply humanity for the next 50,000 years.
Scientists at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) believe the world’s oceans contain one of the greatest untapped reserves of critical minerals. These include lithium, magnesium, manganese, cobalt and rare earth elements that are essential for electronics and clean energy.
Now supported by the US Department of Energy’s Hydropower and Hydrokinetic Office, the team is working on methods to extract these materials from seawater. The idea is anything but new. During World War II, the US produced much of its magnesium from the sea before shifting to imported supplies in the 1990s.
“Just 0.1 percent of seawater contains enough critical minerals like magnesium and lithium, if we can fully extract them, to meet humanity’s needs for the next 50,000 years or more,” Jessica Cross, a chemical oceanographer at PNNL, noted.
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