Chapter 2 



Resource Assessments and Expectations 



WORLD OUTLOOK FOR SEABED MINERALS 



Ever since the recovery of rock-like nodules from 

 the deep ocean by the research vessel H.M.S. 

 Challenger during its epic voyage in 1873, there 

 has been persistent curiosity about seabed minerals. 

 It was not until after World War II that the black, 

 potato-sized nodules like those found by the 

 Challenger became more than a scientific oddity. 

 As metals prices climbed in response to increased 

 demand during the post-war economic boom, com- 

 mercial attention turned to the cobalt-, manganese-, 

 nickel-, and copper- rich nodules that litter the 

 seafloor of the Pacific Ocean and elsewhere. Also, 

 as the Nation's interest in science peaked in the 

 1960s, oceanographers, profiting from technological 

 achievements in ocean sensors and shipboard equip- 

 ment developed for the military, expanded ocean 

 research and exploration. The secrets of the seabed 

 began to be unlocked. 



Even before the Challenger discovery of man- 

 ganese nodules, beach sands at the surfs edge were 

 mined for gold and precious metals at some loca- 

 tions in the world (box 2 -A). There are reports that 

 lead and zinc were mined from nearshore subsea 

 areas in ancient Greece at Laurium and that tin 

 and copper were mined in Cornwall.' Coal and am- 

 ber were mined in or under the sea in Europe as 

 early as 1860. Since then, sand, gravel, shells, lime, 

 precious coral, and marine placer minerals (e.g. 

 titanium sands, tin sands, zirconium, monazite, 

 staurolite, gold, platinum, gemstones, and magne- 

 tite) have been recovered commercially. Barite has 

 been recovered by subsea quarrying. Ironically, 

 deep-sea manganese nodules, the seabed resource 

 that has drawn the most present-day commercial 

 interest and considerable private research and de- 

 velopment investment, have not yet been recovered 

 commercially. Rich metalliferous muds in the Red 

 Sea have been mined experimentally and are con- 

 sidered to be ripe for commercial development 

 should favorable economic conditions develop. 



Recent discoveries of massive polymetallic sul- 

 fides formed at seafloor spreading zones where su- 

 perheated, mineral-rich saltwater escapes from the 

 Earth's crust have attracted scientific interest and 

 some speculation about their future commercial po- 

 tential. These deposits contain copper, zinc, iron, 

 lead, and trace amounts of numerous minerals. 

 Similar deposits of ancient origin occur in Cyprus, 

 Turkey, and Canada, suggesting that more knowl- 

 edge about seabed mineralization processes could 

 contribute to a better understanding of massive sul- 

 fide deposits onshore. Cobalt-rich ferromanganese 

 crusts, found on the slopes of seamounts, have also 

 begun to receive attention. 



Beach placers and similar onshore deposits are 

 important sources of several mineral commodities 

 elsewhere in the world. Marine placer deposits of 

 similar composition often lay immediately offshore. 

 Among the most valuable marine placers, based on 

 the value of material recovered thus far, are the cas- 

 siterite (source of tin) deposits off Burma, Thai- 

 land, Malaysia, and Indonesia. The so-called "light 

 heavy minerals" — titanium minerals, monazite, 

 and zircon — are found extensively along the coasts 

 of Brazil, Mauritania, Senegal, Sierra Leone, 

 Kenya, Mozambique, Madagascar, India, Sri 

 Lanka, Bangladesh, China, and the southwestern 

 and eastern coasts of Australia. 



Although Australia has extensively mined 

 "black" titaneous beach sands along its coasts, off- 

 shore mining of these sands has not proven eco- 

 nomical.^ Titaniferous magnetite, an iron-rich 

 titanium mineral, has been mined off the south- 

 ern coast of Japan's Kyushu Island.^ Similar mag- 

 netite deposits exist off New Zealand and the Gulf 

 of St. Lawrence. Chromite placers are extensive 

 on beaches and in the near offshore of Indonesia, 

 the Philippines, and New Caledonia. Chromite- 



'M.J. Cruickshank and W. Siapno, "Marine Minerals — An Up- 

 date and Introduction," Marine Technology Society Journal, vol. 19, 

 1985, pp. 3-5. 



'I. Morley, Black Sands: A History of the Mineral Sand Mining 

 Industry in Eastern Australia (St. Lucia: University of Queensland 

 Press, 1981), p. 278. 



'J. Mere, The Mineral Resources of the Sea (New York, NY: El- 

 sevier Publishing Co., 1965), p. 16. 



39 



