ores

Priority No. 1 for the project, which is managed by the China Geological Survey, is to help the country wean itself off imported fossil fuels and ores such as iron and aluminum.

The researchers suggest that communities may have chosen to settle in Tugunbulak and Tashbulak to tap strong winds to fuel fires needed to smelt iron ores - which the region was rich in.

They also drive biological processes such as photosynthesis and occur under the Earth's surface in the formation and breakdown of metal ores.

Chemical and heat treatment of sewage sludge can recover phosphorus in a process that could help address the problem of diminishing supplies of phosphorus ores.

Silty seawater containing rock fragments, toxic heavy metals, and radioactive isotopes could be discharged from ships processing the ores and pumped thousands of feet down, where they would choke delicate life-forms and contaminate food webs.