Ocean floor metals coveted by mining companies can electrically produce “dark oxygen”, according to new research that will stoke debate over the impact of seabed commercialisation.
Scientists found the gas while exploring more than 4,000 metres deep in the Pacific Ocean, in a region rich in polymetallic nodules containing elements used to produce electric car batteries and other green energy technologies.
Plans by governments and companies to mine the world’s seabed for valuable industrial metals have triggered opposition from environmental groups that argue it could harm little understood marine ecosystems.
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