The concentration of gold in seawater is very low, but when added together, the total amount of gold in the ocean amounts to about 20 million tons.
An estimate by NOAA suggests that there are about 20 million tons of gold in the ocean. Photo: Ana Babii
Scientists estimate that there is about one gram of gold dissolved in every 100 million tons of seawater in the Atlantic and North Pacific. In some other parts of the world, such as the Mediterranean Sea, the concentration of gold may be slightly higher, IFL Science reported on May 24.
Although very diluted, according to an older estimate by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), there is a total of about 20 million tons of gold in the Earth's seawater.
It is difficult to determine the specific value of such a large volume, and the price of gold is constantly changing. However, according to one estimate in mid-May 2023, a ton of gold could be worth more than $57,000,000. At this rate, the gold in the world's seas would be worth more than $1.14 quadrillion.
The numbers may sound appealing, but mining them is not easy. Gold is extremely dilute in the vast ocean, so an Olympic swimming pool contains only a small amount of gold.
Currently, there is no cost-effective way to mine gold from the ocean and make a profit. A study published in the journal Nature in 1941 described an “electrochemical method” for extracting gold from seawater. However, the cost of this process was five times the value of the gold recovered.
Another study published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society in 2018 described a material that can act like a sponge, quickly extracting small amounts of gold from seawater, fresh water, and even sewage sludge.
The method is said to be able to extract 934 milligrams of good-quality gold in just two minutes. However, scaling it up to a profitable level remains extremely difficult. For now, the technology is being developed only as a way to recover the small amounts of gold lost during the manufacturing process.
Another area of concern is the potential impact on biodiversity and ecosystems. Experts are not yet clear on exactly what large-scale ocean gold mining would look like, but it is likely to have a negative impact on the marine environment. Deep-sea mining for rare metals is already underway and has the potential to cause serious harm.
Thu Thao (According to IFL Science )
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