Garbage dumps would have metal that’s more concentrated than you’d find it in ore. I’m not sure how much energy would be needed to refine it.
If I were writing science fiction, I think I’d have modest tech-level efforts at mining garbage dumps in coastal waters.
The History of the Next Ten Billion Years—a Stapledonian handling of the human future. Entertaining, though I think it underestimates human inventiveness.
Aluminum, in particular, is known for being very difficult to extract from ore, but once extracted, very easy to recycle into new products.
Garbage dumps would have metal that’s more concentrated than you’d find it in ore. I’m not sure how much energy would be needed to refine it.
If I were writing science fiction, I think I’d have modest tech-level efforts at mining garbage dumps in coastal waters.
The History of the Next Ten Billion Years—a Stapledonian handling of the human future. Entertaining, though I think it underestimates human inventiveness.
Aluminum, in particular, is known for being very difficult to extract from ore, but once extracted, very easy to recycle into new products.