Re:High-Tech can’t last: there are limited essential elements
by pjc50 on Wednesday June 12, 2019 @08:23AM
(#20163795)
Copper is highly recyclable. The risk of high copper prices is that it becomes a little too recycleable, and criminals destroy your infrastructure in order to sell it for scrap.
Re:High-Tech can’t last: there are limited essential elements
by glaurung_ on Wednesday June 12, 2019 @10:51AM
(#20165229)
I suspect that in the not too distant future (perhaps in my lifetime) there will be companies buying up landfills in order to mine them for recyclable materials.
Re:High-Tech can’t last: there are limited essential elements
by AnimalMuppet on Wednesday June 12, 2019 @01:08PM
(#20166865)
And isn't it helpful of us to have concentrated the recyclable materials in a few locations?
Re:High-Tech can’t last: there are limited essential elements
by cosmodisk on Wednesday June 12, 2019 @05:10PM
(#20169343)
The future is now!:) Google landfill mining, there are companies that already do it.
Re:High-Tech can’t last: there are limited essential elements
by sixhobbits on Thursday June 13, 2019 @12:54PM
(#20176620)
Exactly this is already a major problem in South Africa.
Helium, though...
On the scale of a century, though, the reserves don't look that good. Some metals used in bulk, like copper and zinc, don't look so great. Remember that really high volume mining is less than a century old.
[1] https://www.usgs.gov/centers/nmic/commodity-statistics-and-i...
[2] https://prd-wret.s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/assets/palladium...