coal, magnesium, bromine, lithium, phosphate, 

 potassium, sodium, and vanadium, and perhaps for 

 copper, molybdenum, and sulphur. 



However, for other mineral commodities such 

 as chromium, manganese, nickel, cobalt, industrial 

 diamonds, platinum, and tin we are almost totally 

 dependent on foreign sources of supply and hence 

 have no control on prices. Many of these minerals 

 come from poUtically unstable areas, a constant 

 threat to the Nation's source of supply. A third 

 group including aluminum, lead, zinc, and tung- 

 sten, among others, is in the borderline category. 

 Sufficient new domestic deposits could come into 

 production to fill our needs without a significant 

 rise in price but this will depend on technological 

 advances and new discoveries. 



An appraisal of cumulative U.S. demand versus 

 U.S. reserves and resources* for about 30 key 

 mineral commodities is shown in Table 1 . 



As may be deduced from the descriptions of 

 individual mineral commodities (Appendix A), 

 substitute materials may be used for many of 

 them, such as aluminum for copper, nickel for 

 chromium, etc. However, in many instances the 

 substitute materials are themselves in relatively 

 short supply, so that substitution in most cases 

 provides only a partial or temporary answer to the 

 problem. The fact remains that new sources of 

 supply for many mineral commodities will be 

 needed to meet the projected demands and insure 

 the security and economic viability of the United 

 States. Many— probably most— new sources will 

 derive from new discoveries on land and from 

 technological advances that will permit the eco- 

 nomical exploitation of lower grade deposits. 

 Another potential source of supply is the sea. 



Two terms that need definition are "resources" and 

 "reserves." Resources is the broader term and applies to 

 materials in the ground that may or may not be minable 

 at present but which may come into such demand as to 

 become minable in the future. "Reserves" are materials 

 that may or may not be completely explored but may be 

 quantitatively estimated and are considered to be econo- 

 mically exploitable at the time of the estimate. Reserves 

 fluctuate because they depend on economic conditions, 

 technologic factors and available information. A low-re- 

 serve figure does not necessarily mean that the resource is 

 near exhaustion. It may mean that exploration is lacking 

 or that a depressed market has lowered the value of the 

 commodity to the point where the material can no longer 

 be considered economically exploitable. 



B. Potential from Marine Sources^ 



The world's oceans are the storehouse of a wide 

 array of mineral materials* with greatly varying 

 characteristics and occurrences, including those 

 dissolved in the sea water, those accumulated on 

 the ocean floor, and those locked in the rocks 

 beneath the ocean floor. At present common salt, 

 magnesium, bromine, and fresh water are being 

 recovered from sea water and their total annual 

 value, worldwide, is estimated to be $385 mil- 

 lion,' of which the United States accounted for 

 $117 million in 1966 (Table 2). 



In recent years iron, coal, sulphur, tin, dia- 

 , monds, gold, shells, ilmenite, rutile, zircon, 

 monazite, and sand and gravel have been mined in 

 several marine areas of the world and their total 

 annual production is now valued at $534 million. 

 The United States accounted for $49.2 million in 

 1966. All these operations are largely confined to 

 the shaUow water portions of continental shelves. 

 Current technology and economics do not pres- 

 ently permit the extraction of minerals (except oil, 

 gas, and sulphur) from beyond the shallower parts 

 of the shelves, but given advances in ocean mining 

 and processing technology mining of certain min- 

 erals in deeper parts of the ocean may become 

 economically feasible in the future. 



The U.S. Continental Shelf to a depth of 200 

 meters includes about 850,000 square miles. The 

 continental slope from 200 meters to a depth of 

 2500 meters has an area of about 479,000 square 

 miles.''* The 2,500 meter isobath is considered by 



A paradox that arises in this report and of which the 

 reader should be forewarned is that whereas the sheer size 

 of our continental shelves and slopes (more than 1.3 

 million square miles) lends itself to optimistic inference 

 regarding its mineral potential, the appraisal of the 

 potential for individual mineral commodities in Appendix 

 A is largely negative. This incongruity stems largely from 

 lack of knowledge, and the gap between the two estimates 

 will be narrowed as the program recommended herein 

 progresses and knowledge is gained. 



John V. Bryne, "The Oceans: A Neglected Mining 

 Frontier," Oregon Dept. of Geology and Mineral Indus- 

 tries, The Ore Bin, Vol. 26, pp. 57-69, 1964; H. D. Hess, 

 "The Oceans: Mining's Newest Frontier," Engineering and 

 Mining Journal, Vol. 166, p. 91, August 1965; John L. 

 Mero, The Mineral Resources of the Sea (New York: 

 Elsevier, 1965). 



'W. F. Mcllhenny, "Chemicals from Sea Water," in 

 Proceedings of the Inter-American Conference on Mate- 

 rials Technology, May 1968, p. 119. 



V. E. McKelvey et al, "Potential Mineral Resources 

 of the United States Outer Continental Shelves," unpub- 

 Ushed report of the Geological Survey to the Public Land 

 Law Review Commission, March 1968. 



VII-98 



