Paperback, 272 pages, published February 2025 by HEADLINE. An Australian millionaire's plan to mine the ocean floor. Nigerian garbage pickers risking their lives to salvage e-waste.
A Bill Gates-backed entrepreneur harnessing AI to find metals in the Arctic. These people and ...Paperback, 272 pages, published February 2025 by HEADLINE. An Australian millionaire's plan to mine the ocean floor.
Nigerian garbage pickers risking their lives to salvage e-waste. A Bill Gates-backed entrepreneur harnessing AI to find metals in the Arctic. These people and millions more are part of the intensifying competition to find and extract the minerals essential for two crucial technologies: the internet and renewable energy.
In Power Metal, Vince Beiser explores the Achilles' heel of "green power" and digital technology - that manufacturing computers, cell phones, electric cars, and other technologies demand skyrocketing amounts of lithium, copper, cobalt, and other materials. Around the world, businesses and governments are scrambling for new places and new ways to get those metals, at enormous cost to people and the planet. Power Metal is a compelling glimpse into this disturbing yet potentially promising new world.