In this episode of La Loupe, Xavier Yvon explains what deep-sea mining entails with Valentin Ehkirch, climate journalist at L’Express.
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The team: Xavier Yvon (presentation), Charlotte Baris (writing), Marion Galard (editing) and Jules Krot (directing).
Credits: Elysium
Music and dressing: Emmanuel Herschon / Studio Torrent
Picture credits: Marcel Mochet / AFP
Logo: Anne-Laure Chapelain / Benjamin Chazal
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Xavier Yvon: It’s been a long time since I picked up an old La Loupe podcast to start an episode. I looked in our archives, and the one I need dates from May 2022. So I’m going to have to look a little in the back of our cupboard… Here it is: it was called “Sous la dune le lithium” . We devoted a mini-series to the reopening of mines in France.
Our journalists Alexandra Saviana and Valentin Ehkirch had therefore explained why we might need them, and above all, where we could find the coveted rare metals in our country:
Valentin Ehkirch “Lithium is present in granite terrains. It is found in the Massif Central or in the Pyrenees, where there are also potential deposits of tungsten, antimony or cobalt. And then there are other resources in high demand, such as copper.”
Xavier Yvon : But the sentence that interests me for our podcast of the day is this one, at nine minutes and four seconds:
Valentin Ehkirch : “There are seabeds in Polynesia which are for example rich in manganese, platinum, cobalt.”
Xavier Yvon : We did not go into the details of the mines that are at the bottom of our oceans. So that’s what we’re going to do today, because these precious resources are attracting growing interest. Many companies are now ready to rush into the loopholes of international regulations to exploit the depths of the sea, to the chagrin of ecologists and scientists…
For further
PODCAST. Should mines be reopened in mainland France? (2/2)
PODCAST. Total and Shell dream of being carbon burying champions
Discovery of rare earths in Sweden: will Europe free itself from China?
Hydrogen, lithium… The many treasures of the French subsoil
Energy transition: should France open lithium mines?