SOVIET EXPLOITATION OF OCEAN MINERAL RESOURCES 
(By James E. Mielke’) 
SUMMARY 
The Soviet Union is continuing to place increasing emphasis on 
the extraction of minerals from seawater and development of marine 
mining. Reports in the Soviet press indicate that while the West is 
more technologically advanced in these areas, development is proceed- 
ing at a fast pace in the Soviet Union. In addition, the Soviets hope 
to increase the efficiency of their mineral resource exploitation in 
many areas through acquisition of Western technology along with 
technology development of their own. In general, Soviet publications 
tend to glamorize the future prospects of exploiting ocean mineral 
resources and the heroics of the workers in remote areas, while 
glossing over the technological difficulties. In 1969, the U.S.S.R.’s 
Academy of Sciences predicted a sharp increase in underwater mining 
in the years immediately ahead and described development of huge 
marine mining and concentration combines resembling floating island- 
cities for use in remote ocean areas. In the fall of 1974, the Soviets 
began the first commercial recovery of tin-bearing sands from the 
Arctic Ocean. This was accomplished by means of a flotilla of ships 
containing fuel, provisions, living quarters, dredging equipment, and 
concentrating facilities all frozen together in the ice and resembing 
in a sense, an “island city.” 
The West, and the United States in particular, has the technological 
lead in developing deep seabed mining capability. Recent Soviet re- 
ports indicate that while the Soviets have not yet developed this 
advanced technology, there is a strong desire not only to be competi- 
tive with other industrialized countries in deep seabed mining but 
to be a leader in this field. The United States, on the other hand, 
has been reluctant to take any steps to substantively encourage deep 
seabed mining by American nationals out of respect for the objections 
of developing countries, and hopes of attaining some form of interna- 
tional good will in the nature of a Law of the Sea Treaty. 
INTRODUCTION 
The Soviet Union is fully self sufficient in 29 of 36 key industrial 
materials and the extraction of many minerals in the Soviet Union 
is doubling approximately every 8 to 10 years. Soviet exports of 
mineral commodities include aluminum, antimony, cadmium, chro- 
mium, copper, iron, lead, magnesium, manganese, titanium, vanadium, 
zinc, abrasives, asbestos, cement, clays, fertilizer materials, cryolite, 
graphite, gypsum, salt, sodium and potassium compounds, sulfur and 
1The author is an analyst in Marine and Earth Sciences with the Science Policy Research Division 
of the Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress. 
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