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Lithium discovery in US volcano could be biggest deposit ever found
(www.chemistryworld.com)
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
Cute, they seem to completely gloss over the fact that the review of the site's environmental impact was rushed, the fact that it'll likely be disrupting several native habitats, including at least one species that doesn't exist elsewhere, the fact that it'll apparently be destroying places that are important to the culture and religions of the surrounding tribal groups (apparently thacker pass is sacred as a massacre against native Americans was committed there, and that they were not consulted before it was approved like they were supposed to), or any of the other issues with it.
We need lithium, but considering how bad of a reputation resource extraction companies have, could we not gloss over the fact that, once again, a mining company is about to bulldoze a lot of land with ecological, cultural, and religious importance in the name of green capitalism? At least force them to mine underground instead of gouging yet another scar into the face of the earth with an open pit mine.
The thing about open pit mining vs. Underground is, when you are faced with options on how to solve a problem it's very rare that safe, fast, inexpensive, and practical are all in the same choice.
Pick two:
Strip mining is all four of those