panamark
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2012
Posts: 1,343
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Post by panamark on Nov 18, 2019 9:34:07 GMT -5
Very interesting article here: Mining the ocean floorIt would be so incredible to look through what they pull up. And to slab some of them!
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Post by opalpyrexia on Nov 18, 2019 12:21:41 GMT -5
Last night 60 minutes reported on mining the seafloor nodules. The composition of all the nodules is the same because the metals precipitate out of solution onto a nucleus of pieces of shell or bone or whatever. Here's a photo of one that was sliced open. It doesn't appear to be polished —
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Post by rockjunquie on Nov 18, 2019 12:52:19 GMT -5
Last night 60 minutes reported on mining the seafloor nodules. The composition of all the nodules is the same because the metals precipitate out of solution onto a nucleus of pieces of shell or bone or whatever. Here's a photo of one that was sliced open. It doesn't appear to be polished —
Looks a lot like a septarian. Cool!
Hearing that list of metals made me want to hold onto mine.
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NRG
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since February 2018
Posts: 1,630
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Post by NRG on Nov 18, 2019 13:08:20 GMT -5
I remember this from my childhood. Mid 1970's. They seem to pop up occasionally. Approximately once a decade.
This isn't a new discovery. Sooner or later it will be economically viable to scrape these off the ocean floor.
Edit: I didn't know they were septarian type nodules
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Member since January 1970
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Nov 18, 2019 13:18:53 GMT -5
Last night 60 minutes reported on mining the seafloor nodules.
I watched that, too. Very interesting. Seems everyone but the U.S. (for over 2 decades, Congress has balked on ratifying the treaty we signed to make participation in the mining claims possible) is already going after them as a source for rare earth elements and strategically important metals.
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