Widespread global heat threatens Arctic glaciers, and Greenland is one of the “victims”, with massive ice sheets melting or softening.
The recent unseasonably warm weather in northern Greenland has prompted rapid melting of glaciers and meltwater into the ocean. According to the National Snow and Ice Data Center, between July 15 and 17 alone, Greenland melted about 6 billion tons of ice per day, enough to fill 7.2 million standard swimming pools.
It is this high temperature that makes Greenland not only a landmark to record climate change, but also a base for the “treasure hunt” of major mineral exploration organizations.
According to reports, 30 geologists, geophysicists and other personnel are stationed at the exploration site on the west coast of Greenland. Behind this team are Microsoft founder Bill Gates, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Bloomberg Limited Partnership founder, former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and other billionaires support.
But Gates-backed start-up Kobold Metals says it wants to mine nickel and cobalt in Greenland because it will help humans fight climate change more effectively.
“Treasure”
The Arctic region has been one of the focuses of countries in the past few decades. Richard Alley, a leading US geological science leader and a professor at Penn State University, believes that Greenland’s resources can indeed help combat climate change.
“Rare earth elements are important in mobile phones, oil refining, and beyond. In the long term, research institutions are looking for batteries that use more common elements, and advancing recycling and limiting the use of rare elements.”
Nickel and cobalt are key metal elements in current new energy vehicle batteries. And according to Kobold, Greenland could become the world’s first or second largest nickel and cobalt deposit.
Nickel is mostly used in the production of stainless steel, which has the advantage of high energy density and can store more electricity than other materials; while cobalt can greatly improve the speed of lithium ion transfer back and forth and shorten the charging time, which is the key to improving the utilization rate of electric vehicles.
Climate change makes exploration easier
The gradual melting of Greenland’s huge ice sheet over the past two decades has lost 4.7 trillion tons of ice and caused global sea levels to rise by 1.2 centimeters, according to Danish Arctic researchers.
A local captain, Lars Noasen, said that when he was young, the ice floes were so hard that people could walk on it, but now they can’t do anything on it.
Sascha Schiott, a researcher at the Greenland Institute of Natural Resources, pointed out that the ice situation in Greenland is changing, and the main fjords, once closed by huge icebergs and sea ice, were not navigable before, but now they can.
According to a 2014 report by the Brookings Institution, it pointed out that Greenland’s previous conditions were very harsh, with high technical requirements and high mining costs. As a result, investors have shown little interest in the local mining of precious metals and gemstones.
But now and then, the ice around Greenland has melted, allowing ships to access the coast for longer periods of time each year, making it possible for Greenland’s west coast to become a world-class battery metal deposit.
Environmental Contradiction
Potential minerals in Greenland could support the production of hundreds of millions of new energy vehicles to help combat climate problems.
But the very act of mining Greenland’s minerals has created a new problem. Mining itself has more or less an impact on the environment, Alley said.
Canadian politician Charlie Angus wrote in an email that cobalt could play a major role in the transition to a clean energy economy, but the development of these resources is already having a severe impact on the environment.
He said, “Billionaires Gates, Bezos and Bloomberg are mining Earth’s fragile, vanishing ice shields for more wealth…their company name is ‘Demon Metal’, I wonder Do they know any myths about metal being associated with demons?”
Cobalt, Cobalt in the English word comes from the German Kobold, representing the dark elves similar to goblins, also known collectively as goblins. Cobalt is also a metal with the meaning of “devil”, which is quite a deal with the devil.
But billionaires insist they are doing something good for the planet and continue to pump money into all kinds of renewable energy sources, of which Greenland is just one.
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