Mining of rare element deposits – comparison land with ocean
This is a suggestion for a Degree Project for Bachelor's and Master's levels at the Department of Marine 91̽»¨s. Degree projects at the Department of Marine 91̽»¨s are done independently and must be written and assessed individually.
Subject: Marine geology
Level: Bachelor
Supervisor: Prof. Laurenz Thomsen, Sedimentology
Project background
Marine mineral resources (i.e., manganese nodules, ferromanganese crusts, and seafloor massive sulfide deposits, elevated concentrations in dump sites) can contain significant amounts of metals, which could, in the future, serve as raw materials to produce construction materials, electronic devices like computers and smartphones, renewable energy technology, and batteries.
Several trends like population growth, industrialization, digitization, and the intended large-scale transition to a low- carbon economy have caused the global demand for metals to increase, evoking fears of future supply shortages. Moreover, several studies have pointed out that deep-sea mining may be preferable to conventional terrestrial mining, as it would neither require the removal of vegetation and overburden nor the relocation of local communities.
Project description
The aim of the bachelor project is to gather data on expected metal concentrations from Deep Sea Mining, mining in the Gulf of Botnia, mining of dumpsites (eg off Gothenburg) or other polluted sites in Swedish waters and compare that with mining in Africa. For Deep Sea Mining and Mining in Africa there are good review papers.
The main work is to gather data for Sweden for comparison on amount, potential, environmental impact, social relevance.
More information
News item in Mining Weekly:
News item in Swedish Television:
91̽»¨
Prof. Laurenz Thomsen
Department of Marine 91̽»¨s
Email: laurenz.thomsen@gu.se