Spain and Morocco are fighting over ownership of the Tropico seamount, located 4,000 meters under the sea and full of essential materials for the production of green energy.
The Tropico submarine is an inactive volcano submerged in the sea. It measures about 3,000 meters from the base and its summit measures about 1,000 meters. It has existed for 120 million years and is part of the mountain range known as “Canarian grandmothers” like Paps, Bimbache, Drago, and Echo.
This mountain has a significant amount of certain minerals and industrial raw materials such as tellurium, used in producing solar panels. The reserves of tellurium on the Tropic submarine are 6,000 times greater than those available in Australia, Romania, the United States, and Mexico, the four countries where this component can be found on the planet.
In addition to tellurium, the Tropico submarine is also full of cobalt, a material used in producing electric car batteries. The cobalt deposits on this volcano are 414 times the total available on Earth. Similarly, rare earths, an element essential for the production of the large magnets that make up wind turbines, are abundant on this submarine.
It also contains lead, barium, vanadium, and nickel, all of which are needed for the development of green energy. Noticias reports that the Tropicco seamount is located outside the Spanish continental shelf and Moroccan waters. In 2014, Spain asked the UN to extend its maritime borders to 350 miles. But this request is still under consideration. For its part, Morocco has unilaterally extended its continental shelf, incorporating Sahrawi waters and part of the Spanish waters where Mount Tropico is located.
