4 ms·

What is the nature of the waste that will be thrown into the sea? Some kind of dirt, rocks or something else?

mogadsheu 3y ago
The substances needed to efficiently extract the materials of interest and separate them from the remaining ore can be a toxic.
wahnfrieden 3y ago
Mine waste can contain up to three dozen dangerous chemicals, including arsenic, lead, mercury, and cyanide. These metals accumulate in fish and the people and wildlife that eat them. The pollution contaminates drinking water, decimates ecosystems and destroys fisheries.
- renewiltord 3y ago
  Can contain or do contain? Does anyone know what the actual things are here? Searching for it I get a lot of these generic statements but nothing specific about this waste.
  - goodSteveramos 3y ago
    No. No one actually knows what wastes they are talking about.
  - Morte42 3y ago
    Generally speaking anything that cant be extracted profitably will be left behind, depending on the circumstances metals like iron and copper will even end up being discarded in some places. What ends up in a mines slurry might vary batch by batch. Then theres the fact that some things are only dangerous when in gas or dust form or are benign unless in very high concentrations. Sometimes there's a reaction between multiple things in the slurry that leads to the danger. Other times the slurry might be benign until it reacts with something where it is dumped. Acidity and deoxygenation can cause bigger problems than even very toxic mining waste in some circumstances. Consider that for every kilogram of usable Lithium we extract we need 170KG of raw ore which requires us to remove 1600KG of material. With Platinum we are moving 670,000KG to get a kilo of the metal. The waste vastly outweighs the end product but the end product is where the money is so we know little about the waste aside from that it needs to be disposed of.
- e12e 3y ago
  > the concern is not about adding rocks and dirt to the ocean. That's not entirely true: https://www.hi.no/en/hi/temasider/ocean-and-coast/mining-waste https://www.hi.no/en/hi/temasider/ocean-and-coast/mining-was... > Dumping large quantities of sand and other material will have a big impact on fauna living at the bottom of the sea, and it may even completely wipe out existing ecosystems at the marine disposal site itself.
  - rightbyte 3y ago
    It is not hard to imagine fish and clam or whatever not doing very good getting rocks and mud dumped on them.
mistrial9 3y ago
heavy metals that are bound in the Earth are freed during mining. There are many heavy metals that are directly toxic to most life a.k.a. poisonous. In addition, some heavy metals bioaccumulate in the food chain -- that is, when a fish eats the plant with the metals on it, the fish does not excrete the elements, over time, then a predator eats many fish. It is a serious and well-studied effect.
e12e 3y ago
See the Norwegian Ocean Research Institute page on the topic: https://www.hi.no/en/hi/temasider/ocean-and-coast/mining-waste https://www.hi.no/en/hi/temasider/ocean-and-coast/mining-was...

The substances needed to efficiently extract the materials of interest and separate them from the remaining ore can be a toxic.

wahnfrieden 3y ago

Mine waste can contain up to three dozen dangerous chemicals, including arsenic, lead, mercury, and cyanide. These metals accumulate in fish and the people and wildlife that eat them. The pollution contaminates drinking water, decimates ecosystems and destroys fisheries.

renewiltord 3y ago
Can contain or do contain? Does anyone know what the actual things are here? Searching for it I get a lot of these generic statements but nothing specific about this waste.
- goodSteveramos 3y ago
  No. No one actually knows what wastes they are talking about.
- Morte42 3y ago
  Generally speaking anything that cant be extracted profitably will be left behind, depending on the circumstances metals like iron and copper will even end up being discarded in some places. What ends up in a mines slurry might vary batch by batch. Then theres the fact that some things are only dangerous when in gas or dust form or are benign unless in very high concentrations. Sometimes there's a reaction between multiple things in the slurry that leads to the danger. Other times the slurry might be benign until it reacts with something where it is dumped. Acidity and deoxygenation can cause bigger problems than even very toxic mining waste in some circumstances. Consider that for every kilogram of usable Lithium we extract we need 170KG of raw ore which requires us to remove 1600KG of material. With Platinum we are moving 670,000KG to get a kilo of the metal. The waste vastly outweighs the end product but the end product is where the money is so we know little about the waste aside from that it needs to be disposed of.
e12e 3y ago
> the concern is not about adding rocks and dirt to the ocean. That's not entirely true: https://www.hi.no/en/hi/temasider/ocean-and-coast/mining-waste https://www.hi.no/en/hi/temasider/ocean-and-coast/mining-was... > Dumping large quantities of sand and other material will have a big impact on fauna living at the bottom of the sea, and it may even completely wipe out existing ecosystems at the marine disposal site itself.
- rightbyte 3y ago
  It is not hard to imagine fish and clam or whatever not doing very good getting rocks and mud dumped on them.

mistrial9 3y ago

heavy metals that are bound in the Earth are freed during mining. There are many heavy metals that are directly toxic to most life a.k.a. poisonous. In addition, some heavy metals bioaccumulate in the food chain -- that is, when a fish eats the plant with the metals on it, the fish does not excrete the elements, over time, then a predator eats many fish. It is a serious and well-studied effect.

e12e 3y ago

See the Norwegian Ocean Research Institute page on the topic: https://www.hi.no/en/hi/temasider/ocean-and-coast/mining-waste https://www.hi.no/en/hi/temasider/ocean-and-coast/mining-was...