Oceans may be best place to get EV Battery metals
A new study explores the environmental, social, and economic costs of different sources of base metals used in the world’s transition away from fossil fuels. The white paper is entitled Where Should Metals for the Green Transition Come From? The research considers the age-old question of land vs. ocean, in this case with regards to where mining for EV battery metals should take place.
The study, which was commissioned by deep-sea mining company DeepGreen, uses a “lifecycle sustainability analysis” and “standard lifecycle analysis” framework that provides an in-depth comparison of the cradle-to-gate impacts of producing metals from land ores and polymetallic nodules, both sources of the nickel, cobalt, copper, and manganese required to build one billion EV batteries. Regarding polymetallic nodules, DeepGreen Chairman and CEO Gerard Barron said, “they’re effectively an EV battery in a rock.”
Read more here.