GBA Presents: RADIO SAVANT-!

Next week we have RBLX & DIS earn.-

That should be a good show. The DIS trade alas is too crowded now. I think Van said that a ways back when it wasn't but now it clearly is.
 
What is one material that we mine for in the deep ocean?

The deep sea contains three primary sources for mining critical minerals:potato-size manganese nodules(rich in manganese, cobalt, copper, nickel, and rare earth elements); deposits of sulfur-containing minerals around underwater openings known as hydrothermal vents

Deep-Sea Mining Could Help Meet Demand for Critical ... - GAO
https://www.gao.gov› blog › deep-sea-mining-could-hel...

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What metals are mined from the ocean floor?


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The deep sea contains many different resources available for extraction, including silver, gold, copper, manganese, cobalt, and zinc. These raw materials are found in various forms on the sea floor.
 












  • ENERGY
    Is Mining The Ocean Bottom For Metals Really Better Than Mining On Land?


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    Two primary scenarios to obtain critical economic metals for electric vehicles and batteries –


    A large continuous supply of special economic metals is essential for any high tech future. Building electric vehicles and wind turbines take a lot of resources, more than we can provide now, particularly special metals like Co, Li, Te and Nd, as well as just base metals like Fe, Cu, Pb and Zn, and other rare earth elements. Even other materials like graphite.


    But their supply is generally an environmental and social nightmare. The waste from Li, graphite and high-purity-Si processing has destroyed whole villages and ecosystems in China, Indonesia and Bolivia, among others. America is still dealing with the acid mine drainage left from 120 years of mining. And like blood diamonds, half of the Co supplies come from inhumane child labor practices.






    The reason this is so important is that many of the people who support the new energy technological revolution of non-fossil fuels and renewables,electric vehicles,conservation and efficiency, also care about the social issues that many of these technologies incorporate in their wake - corruption, environmental pollution, extreme poverty and child labor.


    Not the image sought by people at the shade-grown coffee shop surfing the internet for free-range eggs on their iPhones.

    Just the carbon intensity alone of producing these metals has led to growing interest in low-carbon metal sources. Last year, Elon Musk promised “a giant contract” for nickel mined “efficiently and in an environmentally sensitive way.” And it has already sparked some significant changes.

    So new metal sources should consider their life-cycle carbon footprint, environmental pollution and social justice effects. Everyone agrees that recycling what metals we have is the best thing to do, but we’ll need dozens of times the amount of critical metals we have now, even if we recycle 100%.


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    Metals found at high concentrations in seabed manganese nodules. Many other metals are found in...
    We need3 billion fully electric vehiclesworldwide and10 trillion kWh/yr moreby 2040 to have any chance of achieving our climate goals. Recycling and conservation of metals won’t make a dent in this.

    Enter mining the seafloor for manganese nodules.<--------

    Geologists have long known that the ocean floor is chock full of metals –Cu, Ni, Ag, Au, Pt and even diamonds. Manganese nodules are polymetallic rock concretions that lie loosely on the sea floor or buried shallowly in the sediment (see figure above).

    These nodules occur in most oceans, even in some lakes, and are abundant on the abyssal plains of the deep ocean between 4,000 and 6,000 meters (13,000 and 20,000 ft). The nodules can be harvested from the sea floor bottom easily.

    The Clarion-Clipperton Zone is the largest of the most economic zones, about the size of Europe, extending from the west coast of Mexico to Hawaii. The total mass of manganese nodules there is over 21 billion tons. Other important areas include the Peru Basin, the Penrhyn Basin near the Cook Islands, and the central Indian Ocean.

    These areas are overseen by the United Nations International Seabed Authority(ISA).

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    Ecosystem Impacts of Metal Production. Seabed mining operations are far and away better and safer...

    Unlike metal ores on land which rarely have metal yields above 20%, and are often less than 2%, these seabed nodules are 99% usable minerals– 33% metal and the rest useful in products like construction aggregate and fertilizer since there are no toxic levels of heavy elements like mercury or arsenic.

    So there’s no toxic tailings or mining waste like on land, no deforestation, no open pits, no contaminated rivers or aquifers, and no tailings impoundments<---------

    Seabed mining doesn’t use child labor like much of the land mining does. And it has a life-cycle carbon footprint that is 90% less than land mining.

    A recent study by Paulikas et al. (2020) compares land and ocean mining from several viewpoints and some of the results are summarized in the table above. Other peer-reviewed studies show similar results.

    So what’s not to like about this?

    Pretty much just the habitat effects. The mining, pumping and cleaning of the manganese nodules can creates ediments, noise and vibrations.<---- bad for whales?

    So the big question, and the final decision, is – are the advantages in carbon, pollution and social justice more important than the ecosystem damage to the ocean floor? And can we minimize that ecosystem damage?

    Enter DeepGreen Metals, Inc.<--------------!

    DeepGreen is a Canadian company working in an ISA-granted portion of the Clarion-Clipperton Zone. They are currently carrying out a multi-year environmental impact assessment to fully understand and to mitigate against potential harm to the environment. There are a few key elements about the area, and the process, that are important.

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    Organisms per Square Meter: Land Ores versus Nodules.

    The Clarion Clipperton Zone is one of the least productive areas of the ocean, with one of the lowest biomass environments on the planet, very like deserts on land. The Abyssal CCZ is home to 300 times less biomass than in an average biome on land, and up to 3000 times less compared to rainforest regions where a lot of mining takes place. There are no plants, 70% of life exists as bacteria, and most organisms are smaller than 4cm (see figure above).

    DeepGreen combined with Sustainable Opportunities Acquisition Corporation (SOAC) to form The Metals Company(TMC).

    TMC’s operations will be monitored in real time and shared with regulators and the public. The company is developing an adaptive management system that will allow them to avoid ecologically-sensitive areas and to monitor current and adjust the movement of collector vehicles to limit transport of sediment outside of their operating area. Noise levels are less than those from normal marine industrial and military operations and while TMC’s operating area does not coincide with any breeding or feeding grounds, this system will assist the company in remaining aware of any larger animals that may migrate through this area in order to reduce the impacts of this noise.

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    Box cores provide a square meter snapshot of the seafloor and are a key tool for polymetallic nodule...

    As to sediment released into the water column, various experimental studies currently in peer-review – including those conducted by TMC when it was DeepGreen – show extremely high dilution of sediment concentration per liter within moments of discharge. Furthermore, this work shows that it would take numerous large-scale operations working concurrently to raise particle concentrations above background levels measured in the CCZ.

    In addition, if all particles introduced into the water column by these operations rapidly sank to the seafloor CCZ area, the resulting fallout would be 0.02 micrograms per year—just 2% of the observed normal sedimentation rate in the CCZ of 1 microgram per year.

    Based on 11 seafloor disturbance and commercial mining studies, ecological recovery rates for nodule collection are much lower than those for mining on land – decades versus millenia.

    The ISA has set aside more areas for protection (1.44 million km2) than is currently under exploration (1.1 million km2) and contractors will set side further areas and leave behind 15% of nodules to further aid recovery.

    Finally, research being conducted will determine where it is best to return the process water. It looks to be around 1,500 meters depth, well below the euphotic zone (where light penetrates), where there is unlikely to be any significant impact on organisms in the water column and where the temperature difference between that water and the water on the ocean floor won’t cause significant effects.

    All told, these processes are unlikely to cause the widespread die-offs so feared by many.

    Unlike other potential operations, TMC’s collector will only disturb the top 5cm of the seafloor, and will direct a flow of water in parallel with the seafloor to uplift the nodules without actually touching them.

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    DeepGreen seabed mining ship in the Pacific.

    DEEPGREEN
    This is not to say the operation will be perfect, but it will be much, much less impactive than any land operations, and is the most optimal method for getting these critical metals between now and 2050.

    Then hopefully, we will be recycling enough that any mining needed beyond that time will be minimal.

    TMC-
TMC the metals company Inc. (TMC)<-------
NasdaqGS - NasdaqGS Real Time Price.
0.9410+0.0697(+8.00%)
At close: August 5 04:00PM EDT
 
TMC insider buying at $2.45----> $4.40

stk 95 cents....




Whilst it may not be a huge deal, we thought it was good to see that the TMC the metals company Inc.(NASDAQ:TMC) Lead Independent Director, Andrew Hall, recently bought US$60k worth of stock, for US$2.13 per share. While that isn't the hugest buy, it actually boosted their shareholding by 349%, which is good to see.



The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At TMC the metals
In the last twelve months, the biggest single purchase by an insider was when CEO & Chairman of the Board Gerard Barron bought US$150k worth of shares at a price of US$4.41 per share. So it's clear an insider wanted to buy, even at a higher price than the current share price (being US$2.45). It's very possible they regret the purchase, but it's more likely they are bullish about the company. In our view, the price an insider pays for shares is very important. It is generally more encouraging if they paid above the current price, as it suggests they saw value, even at higher levels.


In the last twelve months TMC the metals insiders were buying shares, but not selling. Their average price was about US$2.65. This is nice to see since it implies that insiders might see value around current prices.
 
stonedinvestor said:
trusting this market enough to buy a stock with no earnings.

So I go through my technical work, I do my research and then -- well they lose money. Why do I invest in an entity that loses money?

.
More...
Never bothered ya before. What's changed? The market has the jitters?
How many times over the years have I given you my lemonaide stand lecture?
Buffett and Lynch would have never bought any of the stocks that took the Naz to the Dec highs, at even half their price, which most are still above on this bounce.
Future earnings?
Yeah.
Whats the difference between a company breaking even in 50 years vs 75?
It's all a house of cards Stoney.
Follow the euphoria, but don't get caught without a chair when the music stops.
 
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