B. Technology 



It is a difficult and expensive task to prepare 

 reasonably precise geologic maps in the marine 

 environment. Unlike on land, suitable instruments 

 and techniques are not available for determination 

 of sea floor and subsurface geology, except by 

 laborious and expensive methods. Present tech- 

 nology is inadequate to characterize either placer 

 or nodule deposits on the seabed or in situ 

 deposits that might be concealed in the rocks of 

 the shelves and slopes. The latter deposits could 

 constitute a major segment of our potential marine 

 mineral resources. 



Recommendation:^ 



An appropriate Government agency, working in 

 cooperation with private industry, should develop 

 tools, instruments, and techniques to improve 

 seafloor and sub-seafloor geological surveys. De- 

 velopment of remote sensing equipment and sub- 

 sea geophysical and geochemical techniques should 

 have high priority. The Bureau of Mines should 

 accelerate its effort to develop the tools and 

 techniques to characterize marine ore bodies. 



The deep ocean floors beyond the continental 

 margins contain vast amounts of manganese 

 nodules and red clays. Other valuable minerals not 

 now suspected may lie either on or beneath the 

 floors of the deep oceans. 



Recommendation: 



Bathymetric charting of the deep ocean floors 

 beyond the continental slope and geologic and 

 geophysical study of the deep ocean area together 

 with appraisal of its resource potential should start 

 in a modest way and build up to a funding 

 amounting to about 25 per cent of the continental 

 shelf and slope program within five years. The 

 surveys should be at reconnaissance scale and the 

 program of bathymetric, geophysical, and geologi- 

 cal mapping should be closely coordinated. Priori- 

 ties should be given to areas most likely to 

 enhance knowledge of how mineral deposits are 

 formed. Such areas would include the great frac- 

 ture zones of the Pacific, the mid-Atlantic Ridge, 

 and the Red Sea rift zone. 



Present technology permits recovery of surficial 

 deposits in nearshore areas by dredging, and 

 exploitation of marine subsurface hard mineral 

 resources by conventional underground mining 

 methods to water depths of about 300 feet 

 (except sulphur which can be extracted by drill 

 hole extraction methods in slightly greater water 

 depth). Significant quantities of mineral resources 

 are known to lie well beyond this depth, and in 

 fact beyond 200 meters. Deposits in the substrate 

 of the continental shelves are possibly exploitable 

 by lock tube in water depths as great as 300 feet, 

 but significant resources may be present in shelf 

 rocks well beyond this depth. 



No equipment exists to exploit the phosphorite 

 or manganese nodules in deeper waters. The 

 present programs of mining corporations generally 

 are limited to conceptual designs and small-scale 

 engineering work pending future technological 

 breakthrough in ocean engineering. 



Recommendation: ^ 



Development of the basic technology which must 

 precede the development of operational mining 

 equipment should be a function of Government in 

 cooperation with industry. 



Government and mdustry should work in close 

 cooperation to develop marine sampling systems 

 and improved delineation techniques and equip- 

 ment, but the actual delineation of mineral de- 

 posits should be carried out by private industry. 



A Government agency should have the function 

 of testing the tools and equipment developed 

 mainly by private industry, developing measure- 

 ment instrumentation used in mining research and 

 development, and setting standards for the mining 

 industry. 



This agency should be the source of informa- 

 tion on the results of experience of industry and 

 other Government agencies with underwater 

 equipment and materials. It should serve as a 

 medium for evaluating classified marine data and it 

 should determine with the Department of Defense 

 how critical information relating to underwater 

 technology can best be made available to industry. 



Ocean mining equipment and installations 

 should be capable of functioning uninterruptedly 



Estimated costs covered by this recommendation for 

 a 10-year level of effort are $50 million. 



Estimated costs covered by this recommendation for 

 a 10-year effort are $130 million. 



VII-91 



