46 
Based on recent information regarding participation by U.S. firms 
and U.S. subsidiaries of foreign interests in international consortia 
and U.S. Bureau of Mines projections of annual increases in domestic 
demand for the metals contained in nodules,?’ another projection can 
be made of the benefit to the United States from nodule mining op- 
erations. The Bureau of Mines projections of annual increases in do- 
mestic demand through 1980 are extended at the same rate through 
1985. These projections are : manganese 2 percent, nickel 3 percent, cop- 
per 3.5 percent, and cobalt 2.6 percent. While this extension is some- 
what speculative, it is probably within the acceptable range. Straight 
projection of these annual increases in demand lead to estimates of 
domestic consumption in 1985 of 2,200,000 short tons of manganese ore, 
1,075,000 tons ferromanganese, 337 ,000 tons nickel, 3,360 000 tons cop- 
per, and 12 ,200 tons cobalt. These projections are generally lower than 
those cited previously as they place more emphasis on current economic 
conditions. 
U.S. firms and U.S. subsidiaries of foreign interests participating in 
international consortia for seabed mining are listed in Table 12. Based 
on recovery rates of about 3 million tons of dry nodules per year for 
each consortium (Deepsea Ventures announced in its Notice of Claim, 
Appendix F, that it now contemplates future recovery of approxi- 
mately this ‘amount), the total amount of nodules processed and 
marketed by U.S. firms in 1985 could amount to 3.1 million tons. An ad- 
ditional 1.5 million tons, representing the share of U.S. subsidiaries of 
foreign firms, could also be added to the domestic market (Table 12). 
This could result in the following estimates of the percent of U.S. con- 
sumption in 1985 supplied from nodule mining by U.S. interests: 9 to 
10 times domestic demand for pure manganese metal, nickel 15 percent, 
copper 1.2 percent, and cobalt 68 percent (Table 13). 
TABLE 12.—PARTICIPATION IN NODULE MINING CONSORTIA BY U.S. FIRMS AND U.S. SUBSIDIARIES OF FOREIGN 
INTERESTS AND ESTIMATED NODULE RECOVERY BY 1985 
Estimated 
consortium 
nodule re- Total nodules 
Percent of covery (million controlled by 
interest in tons dry U.S. interests 
Company consortium weight) (million tons) 
U.S. firms: 
Kennecott-te2 227 cee Rei eet 1 os Be ee 50 3 1.5 
WenNecos eee... = 2 eRe Jol RRR gs ees beh ae 8 23.75 
Deepsea' Veritiires.- 226822 ~ 2 ee ee es 5. 00 3 1.6 
Essexdlronaes 3.5 ee eee ee Re ss 23.75 
52.5 
Subtotals 2b. 24. ABs = RR eB oe I en 3.1 
U.S. subsidiaries: — — ~o 
Union: Minesi2ieu ads st Teele pleura ah iy 23.75 3 71 
International NiCKEl iG omen a sees meen tan mami sear myn tn UO 25 3 75 
Subtotal 2 s- 2eP e  e R ie EOI OO) WA ak NO) DDE Mao heme 1.5 
Total U.S. firms and subsidiaries (million tons)_.2__._--_-_-__--___-_-------_----_-------- 4.6 
a: ise rey poe of Mines. Commodity Data Summaries 1975 U.S. Govt. Print. Office, 1975, 
