Source: Hong Kong 01
Author: Luo Baoxi
The Ministry of Commerce of China announced that it will restrict the export of 8 kinds of 镓 products and 6 kinds of 锗 products starting next month. In the field of key metal materials, "one goal first". In the future, submarine resources may become a must -have place for each family:The International Seabed Authority (ISA), which is responsible for the underwater management of the world's underwater management (ISA), will be tried on July 9 to open an application to open the international submarine mining, including some materials that are vital to green energy transformation.Among them, the Norwegian government also said on the 21st of last month that it has been ready to open the underwater mining, and the goal is to rely on China and other countries.
In response to the threat of climate change, many countries around the world are also promoting green energy transformation.According to the International Energy Agency, the amount of renewable energy in the world will increase in the next five years as much as the past 20 years.This means that the demand for battery required for new energy will increase greatly, and the demand for minerals for the manufacture of these batteries will inevitably surge, especially nickels with insufficient supply.
In view of the large demand of energy transformation, it is believed that it is believed that it is not enough to meet the huge demand of rare metals in rare metals by relying on land mining alone.
Deep -sea mining has become a feasible alternative.Deep Sea mining is the latest mining program. Minerals are mining of sea beds from 800 to 6,000 meters from sea level. The location is usually selected near the sea underwater hot spring, or a large area of rich and multi -metal tuberculosis is hidden.From this, you can minimize precious metals such as copper, lead, zinc, and a small amount of gold, silver, or refine the key materials for cobalt, copper, nickel, manganese and other key materials from the bottom rock -coagulated materials.
At present, it is known that the Clarian-Clipperton Zone (CCZ), a 4 million square kilometer in the eastern Pacific in the eastern Pacific of Mexico and the United States, is particularly rich.
Compared with land, mining the sea bed is more advantageous, because the harsh deep -sea environment means that the life body is lacking diverse.A study of Nature Magazine in 2016 found that a square meter seabed supports one to two creatures with only a few grams of weighing; in contrast, a square meter Indonesian rainforest contains about 30,000 grams of plant organismsThe quantity has not yet been planned, and animals, and insects, and insects, and insects, mining has a serious impact on the ecology.
The Norwegian government has stated last menstruation that it has been ready to open deep -sea mining and will open some waters in the country to carry out commercial underwater mineral activities such as deep -sea mining. The Norwegian parliament will debate the proposal this fall.Norway close the open area near the Arctic, located near the Greenland, with an area of about 280,000 square kilometers.Studies have shown that a large number of copper, cobalt, zinc, and rare earth minerals are hidden in the Norwegian continent. It is an indispensable raw material for the production of batteries and wind turbines.
As a major place for traditional energy, Norway has abundant oil and natural gas reserves. With the development of underwater minerals, the country will also make the country a world's major rare mineral producer.Among them, it is estimated to contain 38 million tons of copper, which is more than the world's annual mining volume.Norwegian officials stated that in order to ensure that the country and Europe can smoothly transform green transformation, it is necessary to expand the source of minerals, especially some of the current production of key mineral production such as rare earths are controlled by a few countries such as China, and the Russian and Ukraine War also highlights Europe's natural gas to Russia.rely.
Sino -US "de -risk" another battlefield?
With the operation of the international underwater mining, it is expected that in the future, if countries want to win in the underwater military competition, it is also a key to mastering the underwater world.It is expected that this may become another strong category of China -US wrestling.
Manabrata Guha, the theoretical researcher at the New South Wales University of Australia (UNSW), said that the exploration plan of deep -sea mining in any country may be transformed into military use, such as a company's topography or or.Exploration documents such as Thermal Maps are handed over to the military, and they can become military use.The areas that are most likely to occur in the underwater underwater is currently the South China Sea, which is fiercely disputed with sovereignty.
As a pioneer in the exploration of deep -sea mining, and the sovereignty of almost all the southern China Sea, the tension with the United States and Southeast Asian countries has increased.Manabrata GUHA pointed out that the opening of the deep -sea mining may make the South China Sea the most likely to have military wrestling.
GUHA pointed out that if the United States can learn more about the South China Sea Tool, it will help fight the expansion of China in the South China Sea and assist the US military to perform the "Swiss Cheese-Style" strategy, that is, the use of opponentsMilitary defense facilities built on the bottom of the sea have launched countermeasures or crackdown through potential "loopholes" like Swiss cheese holes.In addition, it can also use the country to have more advanced knowledge about the sea bed, deliberately release the error map information or thermal readings, and use fake information as a weapon to destroy the opponent's deep -sea strategy.It can be expected that deep -sea mining will become an important area for competition in various countries.
Deep -sea mining itself is very controversial
However, whether the deep -sea mining itself destroys the marine environment, it is still controversial.Some environmental organizations and countries have called for this approach to prohibit this approach, or set up at least one period of suspension to further study its impact on the environment.Environmentalists were very angry and upset about the Norwegian government's plan, believed that they were "irresponsible" and violated national and international obligations.
Sustainable Ocean Alliance believes that deep -sea mining not only destroys the natural environment of the deep sea, but also increases global greenhouse gas emissions.Organizational representative Anne Sophie Roux pointed out that deep -sea mining first caused damage to deep -sea creatures such as whales, although scientists have not yet mastered the degree of damage; secondly, mining soil buried the surrounding sea plants; there are mining chemicals, sounds and lights, etc.Pollution, such as lighting pollution can reach 500 kilometers around.
In order to protect the deep -sea environment, France announced in January this year that it was banned from conducting deep -sea mining in its waters, and Germany called for the suspension of the development of the industry.In addition, Chile, Costa Rica, New Zealand, and Panama have also demanded that the International Underwater Administration will not be eager to issue mining regulations. These countries warn that deep -sea mining will threaten biological diversity.
Before the Norwegian government announced its plan to open its deep -sea mining, the United Nations passed an important treaty designed to protect marine biological diversity on June 19, including restrictions on deep -sea mining.The multilateral agreement called the United Nations Convention on the Marine Law is legal binding. The current goal of various countries is to protect 30%of the ocean by 2030, but less than 1%of public sea is currently protected.
Norwegian Oil and Energy Minister Oddo reiterated that the country will make mining in a responsible manner, and no other country is more capable of managing these resources in a sustainable and responsible manner than Norway. This is for the world.Long -term energy transformation is also crucial.
In view of the fact that land resources are difficult to meet the increasing key metal needs in the future, countries will inevitably shift their attention to the bottom of the sea in the future, or it may promote a new round of global competitions. The actual impact of the environment deserves close attention from the outside world.
