Deep-sea Mining - Future Source of critical Raw Materials
Bass Hatvani Robert
CHIEF MAGNET IN BUSINESS ARCHITECTURE at SSR - STRATEGIC SUPPLY CHAIN REDUNDANCY
The Role of Critical Minerals in Clean Energy Transitions
Raw materials are crucial to the economy. They form a strong industrial base in which a wide range of goods and applications of daily life as well as modern technologies are produced. Reliable and unhindered access to certain raw materials froms worldwide a upcoming challenge to be solved. Raw materials for the transition to carbon neutrality:
The demand will increase in the future for most raw materials used in solar and wind energy technologies.
2050
For some of them, the needs in 2050 may exceed current supply levels if no action is taken. Most of the renewable energy will be produced by wind turbines and solar panels. The rate of deployment of these technologies will increase rapidly, and so will the demand of raw materials needed to build them.
Demand
Demand for solar and wind technology materials will also increase, exponentially. Although materials are expected to be used more efficiently in the future, the overall demand will mainly depend on the volume of renewable technologies that will be deployed. Under the most optimistic assumptions for materials use, the demand for most specific materials would decrease.
Critical raw materials
Supplychain solutions for critical raw materials needed for batteries, electric motors and other components in electric vehicles as electric vehicles are deployed en masse. The supply of critical raw materials used in their manufacture will come under pressure and gain more importance.
Alternative technologies
In addition, there is uncertainty about the speed at which electric vehicle technologies are evolving – affecting the type and quantities of critical raw materials required – and whether alternative technologies or solutions will become available.
Key clean energy technologies
Supplies of critical minerals essential for key clean energy technologies like electric vehicles and wind turbines need to pick up sharply over the coming decades to meet the world’s climate goals, creating potential energy security hazards that governments must act now to address, according to a new report by the International Energy Agency.?
Exploration of the deeper sea floor
Since the early 1970s, exploration of the deeper sea floor has produced indications of wide-spread metallic mineral commodities, spread across large sections of the Pacific region in association with the “ring of fire” tectonic plates.
Similar resource potential has also been indicated for offshore eastern African countries, in South Asia along the eastern Indian continent; in the Atlantic Ocean; and even western continental North America.
What has emerged is a proposed set of mining extraction operations that represent a very new type of industry, characterized as Deep Sea Minerals Mining (DSMM) by virtue of the great depths at which these minerals occur.
By definition, Deep Sea Minerals (DSM) occur in the deeper-water (400 – 6,000 meters) where minerals are deposited by natural processes as iron-manganese (or ferromanganese) nodules and crusts, massive sulfide, phosphates, and metalliferous sediments.?
Mining the deep sea
the true cost to the planet | The Economist perspectives
Mining companies and governments will soon be allowed to extract minerals from the deep-ocean floor. These rare metals are vital for a more environmentally sustainable future on land, but at what cost to the health of the ocean?
Marine Mineral Resources (MMR) from deep sea
The rising global demand for metals is starting to focus greater attention on the extraction of marine mineral resources (MMR) from deep sea. The term MMR essentially covers three different types of formation:
manganese nodules, cobalt-rich ferromanganese crusts and massive sulphide deposits. All three of these natural resources provide the potential basis for a whole range of different metals. Germany has developed an interest for the exploradeep sea.
The term MMR essentially covers three different types of formation: manganese nodules, cobalt-rich ferromanganese crusts and massive sulphide deposits. All three of these natural resources provide the potential basis for a whole range of different metals.
Germany has developed an interest for the exploration of marine deposits. This perspectives outlines the types of deep-sea deposits available and their resource potential.
It also describes the legal and commercial parameters involved and presents the challenges that will arise during the mining and extraction phase and the possible environmental impact of such operations.
Introduction
The increased global demand for (metallic) ores has started to focus ever greater public attention on the availability of marine mineral resources (MMR) on the deep ocean floor. The term MMR essentially covers three different types of rock formation:
All three resource types provide the potential basis for a wide range of differernt metals. The best-known of these are the manganese nodules, which were first considered as a potential source of raw materials some 30 years ago. The operating conditions in this sector have now developed along positive lines:
marine exploration techniques have become much more accurate and the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) has created an international legal framework for such activities. Rising demand and a decline in the metal content of existing landbased deposits are now driving the search for new, ‘unconventional’ resources. However, there is also a growing awareness of the frailty and vulnerability of the marine environment.
Germany too is now developing an interest for the exploration of marine deposits. Since 2006 the Hanover-based Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR) has been actively engaged at an exploration site in the near-equatorial North Pacific to search for manganese nodule deposits. On May 6th, 2015, a second contract was signed for an exploration area in the central Indian Ocean that may contain valuable massive sulphide bodies.
Resource types and their potential
This article focuses on the marine mineral resources that are usually found at sea depths of more than 1,000 m, often outside national jurisdiction and the exclusive economic zones (EEZ).
It also discusses cobalt-rich crusts, which do not currently feature in Germany’s exploration plans. It does not include other potential marine resources, such as near-coastal phosphorites, sands and gravels and heavy-mineral concentrations of the foreshore.
Manganese nodules (polymetallic nodules)
Manganese nodules are dark-brown, concentrically layered concretions of material and vary between 1 and 15 cm in diameter. They form in all sediment-covered deep ocean basins, usually at depths of between 4,000 and 6,000 m, and are created by the precipitation of Mn and Fe oxides and numerous minor and trace metals from the sea-water and sediment pore water. They grow very slowly at a rate of between 2 and 100 mm per million years.
The largest and economically most important area of deposits lies in the near-equatorial North Pacific in the ‘manganese nodule belt’ that extends from Hawaii to Mexico. Other significant occurrences are to be found in the Peru basin in the South Pacific and in the central Indian Ocean.
The Pacific manganese nodule belt covers an area of nearly 5 million km 2, which is more than the entire land surface of the European Union. In some areas as much as 60 % of the seabed is covered with nodules and in these mineral-rich regions the nodule abundance varies between 10 and >20 kg of dry matter per square metre.
The nodules in this area are of special economic interest mainly because of their relatively high content of copper, nickel and cobalt, which is collectively present at levels of 2.5 to 3 % by weight. These metals play a key role in the electrical, electronics and communications industries and in the steel refining sector.
The deposits are also highly valued for their high manganese content (30 % on average) and for their increased levels of the trace metals molybdenum and lithium and light rare earth elements. The total quantity of nodules in the manganese nodule belt is estimated to range between 25 and 40 bn t.
polymetallic nodules exploration areas in the clarion-clipperton fracture zone
Almost all international license areas for the exploration of manganese nodules lie in the Pacific manganese nodule belt between Hawaii, Mexico and the Equator. Source: International Seabed Authority.
Cobalt-rich ferromanganese crusts (polymetallic crusts)
1 - Black ferromanganese crust, 5 - 7 cm thick, on light-coloured volcanic
2 - rock. Massive sulphide sample with high copper content, taken from the Indian Ocean
Ferromanganese crusts are laminated encrustations of iron and manganese oxide that are deposited on the slopes of submarine mountains (‘seamounts’) and plateaus. These mountain areas were kept sediment-free by sea currents over many millions of years of exposure, during which the metals dissolved in the sea water were successively precipitated on the seamount slopes as iron and manganese oxides. Ferromanganese crusts grow in this way layer by layer at a rate of 1 to 7 mm per million years.
Their slow rate of growth and very large porosity-related internal surface area – about 325 m 2 /g – means that these crusts are able to accumulate all kinds of trace elements that are now being used in today’s high-tech and consumer electronic pro ducts. These include cobalt, titanium, molybdenum, zirconium, tellurium, bismuth, niobium, tungsten, the rare earth elements and platinum.
Along with cobalt, the tellurium content of ferromanganese crusts is considered to offer the most promising commercial potential. Cobalt is required in a number of new technologies, primarily in the manufacture of batteries for hybrid and electric vehicles, while tellurium is used for cadmium-tellurium alloys in thin-film photovoltaics and for the bismuth-tellurium alloys needed for making computer chips.
About 66 % of the known potential deposits are located in the Pacific, with around 23 % in the Atlantic and just 11 % in the Indian Ocean. The focus of commercial interest lies on those deposits located at a depth of between 800 and 2,500 m. Given a layer thickness of 3 to 6 cm, the local coverage in this region can reach values of 60 to 120 kg/m 2.
Unlike manganese nodules, the ferromanganese crusts form an integral part of the substrate, a fact that poses a special challenge for the extraction process.
The total quantity of dry ore material is estimated at 40 bn t, of which about half is deemed to be potentially recoverable. It should be noted that, as things stand at present, less than 10 % of these deposits have been surveyed in any detail and so any assessment of the quantities involved can only be a rough approximation.
Massive sulphide deposits
Model of the formation of seafloor massive sulfide deposits from Humphries?
WHAT ARE SEAFLOOR MASSIVE SULFIDE (SMS) DEPOSITS
Seafloor massive sulfide (SMS) deposits, also known as hydrothermal ore deposits or black smoker vents, form when a magmatic heat source drives the circulation of seawater through the ocean crust, where it leaches metals from the rocks.
Metals may also be contributed by magmatic fluids that are degassing from the underlying magma chamber. These metals are then precipitated at or near the seafloor when the hot fluids mix with cold seawater. These deposits are a significant source of copper, zinc, lead, and gold, with minor amounts of other trace-metals, including cobalt, cadmium, indium, gallium, and germanium.
Hydrothermal deposits are associated with volcanic structures, especially along mid-ocean ridges, back-arc spreading zones and island arcs. They are created by the circulation of sea water through the upper 3 km of the oceanic crust, whereby the water is heated by underlying heat sources (magma chambers) and is transformed into an aggressive fluid, leading to the mobilization of metals from the volcanic rock. Spectacular phenomena such as black smokers indicate active hydrothermal zones on the seabed at average water depths of between 3,000 m and 1,600 m.
Metallic sulphur compounds (metal sulphides) and other substances are precipitated from these high-temperature solutions and this material can form local deposits several hundred metres in diameter. The commercial interest here is focused on the high non-ferrous metal content (copper, zinc and lead) and, more particularly, on precious metals such as gold and silver and trace metals, which include indium, tellurium, germanium, bismuth, cobalt and selenium.
According to our current understanding, the origin from convecting fluid-circulation cells via magmatic heat sources tends to favour mineralisation zones whose size can be estimated at 5 million t or less. However, deposits containing as much as 170 million t have been known from the geological past, such as those at Kidd Creek in Ontario, Canada. Operations to extract these materials will have to deal with a very large number of individual sites.
The limited extent and three-dimensional form of the deposits, which are only accessible on a superficial level, makes the exploration process much more difficult than in the case of manganese nodules, for example. However, no investigations have been undertaken to determine the extent and tonnage of the deposits. At present we know of the existence of more than 150 high-temperature emissions with the formation of massive sulphide deposits associated with black smokers.
The largest known deposit at present is a geological exception: metal-rich sludge in the brine of the Red Sea (ore sludge). Rough estimates put the metal content of an individual area of deposits known as the Atlantis Deep at more than 90 million t.
WHERE IN THE WORLD
SMS deposits are currently forming today on the seafloor in areas associated with increased magmatism; namely, along tectonic plate boundaries (mid-ocean ridges, volcanic-arcs, and back-arc basins). Many subduction-related deposits form within the Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs) of countries around the Pacific Rim, while mid-ocean ridge-related deposits are found within international waters.
WHAT TOOLS DO WE USE TO STUDY DEEP-SEA ORE DEPOSITS
The deep sea is a technically-challenging place to explore. We use a number of tools during sea-going research expeditions for a number of purposes:
Legal and commercial conditions
Marine resources and their extraction in areas that lie outside sovereign territory differ from land-based deposits in that they are now subject to much more stringent international law and the control of the world community.
The regulatory framework for this is laid down in the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which came into force in 1994, and in the amendment to the implementing agreement, which relates to natural resources, as now signed by some 167 countries and the EU.
This regulates access to, applications for and the future extraction and protection of the resources. The main body is the International Seabed Authority (ISA) based in Kingston (Jamaica), which was established in 1994.
The ISA regulates the world’s marine assets for the common benefit of mankind, develops resource-specific regulations and ensures that the seas’ resources are dealt with in a responsible manner.
The ISA lays down application procedures (‘mining codes’) for the different resource types. Up until now these codes have only applied to the prospection and exploration phase. Detailed draft proposals are currently being discussed at expert-group level to incorporate future mining activities into these procedures.
On the basis of the exploration code, Germany, as represented by the BGR, signed an exploration agreement with the ISA in July 2006. This relates to two areas in the manganese nodule belt with a total surface area of 75,000 km 2. The contract runs for a period of 15 years until 2021, with the option for it to be extended by five years.
By the end of 2014 a further 15 state and private licensees had taken out contracts with the ISA to explore for manganese nodules, or had applied for concession areas. Apart from India, whose licensing area is located in the Indian Ocean, all the exploration areas are sited in the manganese nodule belt.
A second German exploration agreement – this time to explore sulphide deposits in the central Indian Ocean – was signed by the ISA and the BGR in May 2015. This agreement runs until 2030.
Since 2011 Germany and five other state licensees have concluded agreements with the ISA to explore for massive sulphide deposits, or have applied for concession areas, both in the southern and central Indian Ocean and at the mid-Atlantic Ridge. In 2014 a further four licences were awarded for the exploration of polymetallic crusts in the western Pacific and Atlantic.
The commercial use of the deep sea is therefore gathering increased worldwide attention and could well assume greater significance in the medium term.
Given the strong economic development taking place in China and other BRIC states (Brazil, Russia, India and China) it is likely that, in spite of the possibility of fluctuations in the short term, the ongoing increase in the demand for metal ores will only drive up prices in the years ahead. State-owned groups and international mining companies alike are now showing an interest in marine mineral resources.
The mining scenario projected by the BGR is based on the extraction of 2 million t of nodules a year over a period of 20 years. Given a ratio of 10 kg of dry material per m 2 this would involve extracting an area of nodules between 100 and 200 km2 per year (by comparison: the city of Hamburg has a surface area of 755 km2 ).
Finally, the challenging task of processing this extremely fine-grained and complex metallic ore is not to be underestimated. As this part of the process chain usually demands 50 % of the investment and operating costs, any operation to use manganese nodules as a source of raw materials will depend decisively, from an economic viewpoint, on the availability of effective metallurgical extraction techniques.
Moreover, the development of production technology capable of operating reliably over long periods of time will be an essential factor when it comes to attracting private investors to finance any nodule mining project. This becomes apparent when nodule mining is assessed using cash-flow models.
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From the current perspective such a mining venture only becomes attractive when the ‘internal rate of return’ (IRR) is higher than 30 %, a fact that can be primarily attributed to the huge technical uncertainties associated with extracting material from the deep sea beds.
Set against today’s metal prices, previously published economic model calculations also indicated an IRR of maximum 25 %, which is only slightly below the current figure.
According to Yamazaki, and based on comparable metal prices as they are today, the payback period for a total investment of 1.3 bn US$ in a deep sea mining enterprise – including a smelting plant and an additional 200 million US$ a year by way of operating costs for mining, transport and ore preparation – can be set at six years.
These economic considerations indicate that mining projects of this kind are gradually reaching a tangible stage.
Technical challenges
In order to obtain sufficient quantities of manganese nodules the current mining concept proposes to use at least two collector systems working in parallel, with caterpillar-like vehicles scooping up the nodules from the seabed.
Concept for mining manganese nodules on the seabed. The depth required for the return of the residue material is still under discussion. A close to the seabed return is the preferred option.
Once on the collector the nodules will be cleaned of sediment, crushed and transferred to a vertical riser system. The material will then be conveyed to a floating production platform, either using an airlift system or a solids pumping unit. When they arrive at the surface the nodules will be dewatered and loaded on to bulk carriers for transport to shore.
The expected technical challenges mainly concern the reliability of the underwater technology over long periods of time and with as little maintenance expenditure as possible.
While the basic technical components are already being used in the offshore oil and gas production sector and in the coastal extraction of sand, gravel and alluvial deposits, there has to date been no experience with the long-term application of this technology in the deep sea.
Chain drive and Archimedes’ screw systems are being discussed for the collector vehicle, while for the vertical transport phase there are two contrasting options, namely the airlift process and the solids pumping technique, both of which have already proved effective in shallow water.
As model calculations cannot at present be used to determine the most suitable system, the situation can only be clarified by carrying out on-site trials as part of a programme of pre-pilot mining tests.
Unlike manganese nodules that lie loosely on the deep sea sediments, ferromanganese crusts are firmly attached to the substrate and the biggest technical challenge during the mining operation is to separate the crusts from this bedrock.
Another factor is that the crusts are found on the steeply sloping seamounts where there is a very pronounced microtopography. Furthermore, no effective technical means has yet been found for measuring the crust thickness on the sea floor in order to determine the content of the deposits. Gamma emitters and ultrasonics are being discussed as potential options here.
Current proposals for separating the crusts from the substrate seem to favour the use of mechanical techniques (milling and cutting), high-pressure water jets and a combination of both systems.
Unlike the situation with marine massive sulphides, no industrially established metallurgical extraction process is yet available either for manganese nodules or ferromanganese crusts.
While a combination of pyrometallurgical and hydrometallurgical methods on a semi-industrial scale can produce good extraction rates of 90 % at most for copper, cobalt and nickel, these processes entail very high energy and environmental costs and do not permit the recovery of secondary products such as molybdenum and lithium, in the case of manganese nodules, or tellurium and rare earths, in the case of ferromanganese crusts.
All current economic feasibility studies suggest that the extraction process, which amounts to about 50 % of the total, accounts for the largest share of the investment costs. Any reduction in this investment outlay would bring the marine mining of manganese nodules and ferromanganese crusts much closer to profitability.
The development of effective extraction methods for recovering the primary and secondary products, incorporating a modern approach based on microbiology and biomining for example, should become a focus of future research efforts.
Environmental impact
The impact on the marine environment of any mining of subsea mineral resources poses an additional challenge from a global environmental point of view.
Depending on the specific characteristics of the deep sea mining technology that is actually deployed, the main impact of the operation is likely to be felt by the seabed fauna – a factor that has only been partially investigated to date.
Critics of the scheme fear that marine mining will produce repercussions on an expansive scale, including high levels of sediment suspensions and turbidity close to the ocean floor and damage to the food chain as a result of the introduction of residue material and possibly the release of pollutants from the seafloor and from the production platforms.
According to UNCLOS Articles 145 and 209 the ISA is committed to ensuring effective protection of a sustainable marine environment and biodiversity. The need to ensure protection of the environment is emphasised accordingly in all the ISA provisions, guidelines and recommendations.
Assessment of ecological impacts above deep sea mining
The potential effects of mining-generated sediment plumes and noise on pelagic taxa. Organisms and plume impacts are not to scale. See text for explanation of effects. Connections between seafloor vehicles and surface ships are only shown for nodule mining.
Interest in deep-sea mining for copper, cobalt, zinc, manganese and other valuable metals has grown substantially in the last decade and mining activities are anticipated to begin soon.
A new study, led by University of Hawai‘i (UH) at Mānoa researchers, argues that deep-sea mining poses significant risks, not only to the area immediately surrounding mining operations but also to the water hundreds to thousands of feet above the seafloor, threatening vast midwater ecosystems. Further, the scientists suggest how these risks could be evaluated more comprehensively to enable society and managers to decide if and how deep-sea mining should proceed.
Currently 30 exploration licenses cover about 580,000 square miles of the seafloor on the high seas and some countries are exploring exploitation in their own water as well. Most research assessing the impacts of mining and environmental baseline survey work has focused on the seafloor.?
However, large amounts of mud and dissolved chemicals are released during mining and large equipment produces extraordinary noise - all of which travel high and wide. Unfortunately, there has been almost no study of the potential effects of mining beyond the habitat immediately adjacent to extraction activities.
“This is a call to all stakeholders and managers,” said Jeffrey Drazen, lead author of the article and professor of oceanography at UH Mānoa.?“Mining is poised to move forward yet we lack scientific evidence to understand and manage the impacts on deep pelagic ecosystems, which constitute most of the biosphere. More research is needed very quickly.”
The deep midwaters of the world’s ocean represent more than 90% of the biosphere, contain 100 times more fish than the annual global catch, connect surface and seafloor ecosystems, and play key roles in climate regulation and nutrient cycles. These ecosystem services, as well as untold biodiversity, could be negatively affected by mining.
This recent insights, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, provides a first look at potential threats to this system.
“Hawai‘i is situated in the middle of some of the most likely locations for deep-sea mining,” said Drazen. “The current study shows that mining and its environmental impacts may not be confined to the seafloor thousands of feet below the surface but could threaten the waters above the seafloor, too.
Harm to midwater ecosystems could affect fisheries, release metals into food webs that could then enter our seafood supply, alter carbon sequestration to the deep ocean, and reduce biodiversity which is key to the healthy function of our surrounding oceans.”
In accordance with UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), the International Seabed Authority (ISA) is required to ensure the effective protection of the marine environment, including deep midwater ecosystems, from harmful effects arising from mining-related activities.
In order to minimize environmental harm, mining impacts on the midwater column must be considered in research plans and development of regulations before mining begins.
Manganese nodules
The potential environmental impact of the mining operations will differ according to the type of mineral resource involved. In the case of manganese nodules the mining area is relatively large at an estimated 200 km2 per year.
Seabed tests to determine the level of damage to the ecosystems on a sub- industrial scale have shown that a functional faunal community can establish itself in a damaged area with almost the same degree of diversity as before within five to ten years.
However, it is likely that the species composition and distribution will have changed in some way, since organisms that live on the hard substrate of the nodules, or whose lifestyle is affected by this substrate, cannot re-establish themselves in the disturbed areas.
The recovery of balanced faunal communities in industrial mining zones will very much depend on the distance to undisturbed areas. In a patchwork system of mining zones, this distance will be much smaller than when a single, large-scale extraction area is involved.
Furthermore, fine sediment particles will be swirled up by the collectors and dispersed through the marine water in a sediment plume. Modelling work and experiments conducted on the deep sea floor have shown, however, that this sediment plume generally settles down again within a radius of about 2 km.
Massive sulphides
In the case of massive sulphides the extraction zones currently being discussed are relatively small at less than 1 km2 per individual area of deposit. Depending on the hydrothermal activity, different types of marine faunal communities will be found in the active and inactive zones.
Extremely adaptable and often endemic, chemosynthetic organisms with relatively low diversity live around active hydrothermal sources. In contrast, normal deep sea species tend to inhabit the hard substrate of inactive hydrothermal vents.
The loss of living organisms and hard substrate, along with the plume produced by mining activities and the movement of recirculation water, all have a potential environmental impact that needs to be properly examined.
In view of the relatively small extraction area compared with manganese nodule fields and the possibility of new vent sites forming quickly in mined, active hydrothermal fields, along with the high degree of adaptability of the organisms involved and the significant variability already present in the natural environmental conditions, it is thought that the overall environmental impact would be fairly low, especially as mining in active hydrothermal fields is not being considered at the moment.
Cobalt-rich crusts
In the case of cobalt-rich crusts the mining area would clearly be larger than that of massive sulphide operations, but smaller than when mining manganese nodules.
In addition to the loss of living organisms, the residue material entering the marine water from the mining operations would, as a result of increased currents and the upwelling of water around the seamounts, tend to drift quite a large distance away and in some cases enter the upper water levels.
1
the collector is to exert as little pressure as possible on the seabed
2
the nodule collection system will minimize its penetration depth into the sediment as much as possible
3
the amount of sediment whirled up from the seabed will be reduced by technical measures designed to achieve a rapid settlement of this fine-grained material, for example by enclosing the collector vehicle
4
as little sediment and rock dust as possible will be transferred to the floating production platform in order to minimise the amount of material returned to the sea, and
5
the fine-grained residue (tailings) will be returned as close to the seafloor as possible.
Contractual agreements with the ISA require each contracting party to collect environmental reference data throughout the 15-year exploration phase. This information will be used to assess and evaluate the impact of any future mining activities even before any intrusion into the deep sea habitat occurs.
The most important element in these environmental investigations is the information gathered on the species composition and population density of the seabed fauna, along with oceanographic and substrate parameters.
The environmental and biodiversity data supplied by the 15 (to date) licensees/applicants for the manganese nodule belts in the Pacific are to be standardised as far as possible and incorporated into an EMP for this highly prospective zone.
On the basis of this plan, nine marine protection areas each measuring 160,000 km2 have been established in the manganese nodule belt, this representing about 30 % of the total area. No mining will take place within these protected zones.
Situation in Germany
German research institutions such as the RWTH Aachen University and the BGR, along with private companies including the former Hanover-based Preussag AG and the Frankfurt conglomerate Metallgesellschaft AG, were heavily involved in exploration activities in the 1970s and 1980s that focussed on the deep oceans as a source of mineral resources.
The efforts of the industrial sector culminated in 1984 with the application for a mining licence to extract manganese nodules. Over-optimistic expectations, the development of new onshore deposits and the resulting fall in metal prices ultimately prevented these marine mining plans from becoming a reality at the time.
The unexplored potential of deep-ocean resources was not to become the focus of corporate attention again until there was a renewed increase in raw material prices about ten years ago.
German interest in this area is now centred mainly around medium-sized businesses that have to pool their resources in order to drive technological development and confront the challenges that lie ahead.
The latest position paper from the Federation of German Industries (BDI) in Berlin, which highlights the opportunities that a future deep sea mining industry could have for German companies, has also had a positive impact on the institutional and business view.
Additional structural enhancement has come in the form of the DeepSea Mining Alliance (DSMA) that was established in Hamburg in April 2014. Initially intended as a platform for interested German SMEs from the technology industry, the DSMA has now developed into an international group with the inclusion of members from neighbouring European and Asiatic states. A trend towards European or international solutions could help overcome some of the development bottlenecks currently affecting Germany.
Expected benefits
The general benefits of a deep sea mining industry from today’s perspective comprise a number of aspects that are both resource and technology related. These can broadly be summed up as follows:
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Marine mineral resources represent an additional new source of raw materials that to date has not been included, or not sufficiently considered, when calculating the world’s natural resources. This can be attributed to the lack of detailed information in this area, which means that MMR still only constitute a very roughly estimated extension of the known global resource base.
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A considerable proportion of the MMR presented here lies well offshore and comes under the jurisdiction of the International Seabed Authority. The development and potential commercial exploitation of these deposits will be contracted out on the basis of long-term agreements.
This means that they are not subject to the vulnerabilities of resource-rich, sometimes politically unstable nation states. For this reason these mineral resources can make a significant contribution to the diversification of supply sources and to Germany’s long-term supply security in this area.
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Extracting natural resources from deep ocean floors requires innovative technical solutions – ranging from high-resolution exploration techniques and production technology through to efficient metallurgical processing.
This means developing environmentally friendly solutions, including for example production systems capable of operating at maximum reliability in remote ocean locations.
This will call for outstanding engineering skills and technical know-how. For a technology and export oriented country like Germany this must be seen as an opportunity to shape a new economic future.
Conclusions
Deep sea mining is not yet a reality but it certainly represents a very appealing future business field. However, the strategic role of deep sea deposits awaiting exploitation is to supplement and extend the known land-based resources and not to substitute conventional raw materials mining as we know it today.
While we can still do no more than estimate the scale of the marine mineral reserves, it appears that they are comparable to many onshore deposits in terms of metal enrichment and development costs, and in certain individual cases may even be superior.
As well as supplying a range of high-quality minerals, such a deep sea mining industry will provide huge opportunities for an export oriented, high-tech country like Germany.
And in the politically unstable world in which we live it is a particular relief to know that when it comes to resource exploitation and utilisation a large part of the world’s oceans are subject to a standard set of rules under international supervision and control.
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1 年Thanks for sharing, Bass :)