polymetallic nodule

These are not exactly new but they are emerging as an ongoing topic for discussion in the race to gather up rare minerals.  At the moment on land China is a clear winner but at sea in open territorial waters anyone could be mining them in bulk.  The nodules are rich in manganese but have sizeable amounts of nickel, copper, lithium and cobalt, all needed in the manufacture of electric batteries, solar panels and wind turbines.  The irony is that in seeking these things which we need for green energy, we may be destroying the ecology of the marine systems at the bottom of the ocean.  A nodule takes 10 million to 30 million years to reach the size of a potato.  We are proposing to sweep millions of square kilometres of the deep-sea floor to harvest them.  We have no idea what the effect of this will be.