This article was originally published on our sister site, Freethink. Oxford scientists have proposed what they believe is a more sustainable approach to copper mining: digging deep wells under dormant volcanoes to suck out the metal-containing fluids trapped beneath them. The status quo: Currently, most copper mining is done via open pits. Drills and explosives blast away rock near the surface, which is then transported to a processing facility. There, the rock is crushed so that the tiny portion of copper in it can be extracted. This extraction process often involves toxic chemicals, and once the copper is removed, the waste rock that remains must be shipped to a disposal site so that it doesn’t contaminate the environment. The challenge: All of the digging, extracting, and transporting involved in copper mining can be energy intensive and environmentally damaging — but the world needs more copper today than ever before.…