Daniel Cui
RemX - A Speculative System for Sustainable Futures
Industrial Design
2023
RemX is a speculative systems design project looking to re-imagine the extraction of technology-critical elements (TCEs). These vital minerals are necessary materials for products involved in "green tech", renewable energy, and other electronic commodities -- as such, a growing dependence on these minerals has massive socioeconomic ramifications. In response: an ethical and eco-centric approach to extraction and land remediation known as RemX.Mining for TCEs, such as cobalt (Co), lithium (Li), and rare earth elements (REEs), is not only a rapidly growing multibillion dollar industry, but one that currently employs extremely harmful practices -- both to environment as well as to workers. Human rights abuses, air and groundwater pollution, chemical waste, and heavy metal contamination are just a few of the more egregious consequences.This project proposes an alternative mode of extraction, implementing phytomining as a technique to remediate and convert open pit mines into commercial "metal farms". Phytomining is a process by which plants can accumulate metals in their biomass, and be harvested to produce "bio-ore". Considering indigenous land rights, government subsidization, and artisanal vs commercial mining scale, the proposed intervention is a plausible systems construction that looks to both illustrate the possibility of change and bring awareness to a hidden crisis.