I knew it all along ! As rare earths are more and more expensive and critically needed for our technological thirst, it is becoming economically viable to mine landfills and to recycle old appliances. As the New York Times indeed noted :
” This town’s hopes for a mining comeback lie not underground, but in what Japan refers to as urban mining — recycling the valuable metals and minerals from the country’s huge stockpiles of used electronics“
This proves that by using ingeniousness we can do wonders and start discovering the gold sitting in our landfills. This is to me a great alternative to mining the oceans floor.