Abstract Because of ever-growing demand for strategic metals, the focus of the international community has fallen on deep sea manganese nodules occurring at a water depth of more than 4500 m. We present an economic appraisal and strategy for mining of nodules from the Indian Ocean Nodule Field- one of the four economically potential …

Deep-sea mining is the process of retrieving mineral deposits from the deep seabed – the ocean below 200m. Depleting terrestrial deposits and rising demand for metals mean deep-sea mining …

This is still the area considered of greatest economic potential in the global ocean because of high nickel (Ni), copper (Cu), and Mn contents and the dense distribution of nodules in the area. While the mining of nodules was fully expected to begin in the late 1970s or early 1980s, this never occurred due to a downturn in the price of metals ...

During Part II of its 28 th session, which closed on Friday, July 21, the Council of the International Seabed Authority made significant progress on draft regulations to govern seabed mining. But ...

This study examines the. economic requirements for future commercial mining projects focusing on manganese nodules. Beside the common measures of. profitability, the net present value (NPV), and ...

With a concentration of 10kg nodules m '2, an area of 5 x 105 m2 day '' must be mined. These numbers are typical of estimates found in the literature on the economic aspects of nodule mining.7 Nodule abundance is frequently quoted in terms of percentage of sediment covered by nodules as revealed by bottom photographs.

Minerals 2021, 11, 311 4 of 22 mostly consist of nuclei and typically concentric layers of iron and manganese hydroxides and oxides. The nucleus can be composed of volcanoclastic debris, lithified ...

Nodule mining is a continuous process and the mining vessels never leave the mining site, unless they are required for a classi fi cation survey docking every 7.5 years.

Co, and Mn. The technology for mining the minerals from deep sea is on its way to be established. Though the estimated cost of mining is presently higher than that of land mining, in times to come it is projected to be competitive with that for land mining. Out of all the minerals, polymetallic nodules have emerged as the most

Controlling parties of polymetallic nodules – the Clarion Clipperton Zone being of most economic interest and home to 90% of exploration in international waters – are quite straightforward. For over 30 years the International Seabed Authority has managed the exploration contracts to access and research nodules in the area beyond …

In search for critical elements, polymetallic nodules at the deep abyssal seafloor are targeted for mining operations. Nodules efficiently scavenge and retain several naturally occurring uranium ...

One mining operation as described in this paper would produce 37.050 × 10 3 t of nickel, 32.400 × 10 3 t of copper and 6.375 × 10 3 t of cobalt annually, representing approximately 2.32 per cent, 0.20 per cent and 7.50 per cent of their respective markets. Because manganese is the most abundant constituent metal in the polymetallic nodules, …

Polymetallic nodule occurrence of economic interest is largely limited to four locations [56]: the CCZ in the north-central Pacific Ocean, the Penrhyn Basin in the south-central Pacific, the Peru Basin in the south-east Pacific, the Peru Basin in the south-east Pacific and the Central Indian Ocean.Seventeen of the nineteen polymetallic nodule …

These include acquiring a comprehensive understanding of the environmental, social and economic risks of nodule mining; demonstrating that deep-sea mining can be managed in a way that prevents damage to the marine environment and the loss of biodiversity; ensuring that mining companies receive consent to mine from …

Polymetallic nodule mining at abyssal depths in the Clarion Clipperton Fracture Zone (Eastern Central Pacific) will impact one of the most remote and least known environments on Earth. Since vast ...

Some of the studies concerning the economics of mining and processing the nodules indicate that the nodules promise t o be a much less expensive and essentially …

Given this international political-economic background and expectations about future resource supply, mining manganese nodules from the ocean floor looked increasingly attractive. Manganese nodules offered a way for the industrialised states to bypass to some degree the developing countries, at least regarding nickel, copper, and …

In order to improve the economy, a mining subsystem based on mechanical lifting and small-scale collectors is proposed and the preliminary economic feasibility is examined in this study. The benefit …

Members of the Pacific Islands Forums are weighing the economic potential of sea floor mining against possible harm to ocean ecosystems Daniel Hurst in Rarotonga Thu 9 Nov 2023 22.51 EST Last ...

According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), deep sea mining can cause a series of deep sea environmental disturbances. Some of the most critical problems include: Displacement of native deep-sea species, including fish, crustaceans, and other marine organisms. Disturbance of the biodiversity of very LARGE areas of ...

Land based mining. Seabed mining. Highly Speculative Venture Capital (Angel investments in new tech) Very low returns required (0% - 3%) Moderately high returns required due to price & geological risk (typically above 15%) Higher returns than land based mining Same risks, plus technological risk Never been done at scale before Banks may …

These include acquiring a comprehensive understanding of the environmental, social and economic risks of nodule mining; demonstrating that deep-sea mining can be managed in a way that prevents ...

Another argument The Metals Company and others like it make is that the mining – or as they prefer to term it, collection – of these nodules can be done in a less invasive and more energy efficient way than traditional mining operations. "Polymetallic nodules lie around like golf balls on a driving range," Barron explains.

However, there are several considerations for the sustainable development of deep-sea mining.A typical area of 75,000 km ² with an estimated nodule resource of >200 million tonnes is expected to ...

Abstract. This article examines the economic implications of mining or of not mining manganese nodules and summarizes potential ecological consequences. Apart from possible net economic benefits to certain countries, mining the nodules is not regarded as an economic or strategic necessity. It is concluded that expansion of basic …

The evaluation of the nodule resources, as identified through field exploration, includes laboratory analysis to estimate its grade (Ni + Cu + Co %), abundance (kg/m 2), and reserve (million metric tonnes).A mine site was defined as a portion of the seabed where a commercial operation could be maintained for 20–25 years with a …

This paper presents the economic structure, assumptions, and relations of deep-sea mining project assessment and the results of its evaluation, based on exploration activities and research in the field of …

Polymetallic nodules vary in diameter from less than one to tens of centimetres and acquire economically interesting quantities of critical metals (metals that are essential to the security and...

The economics of mining and processing the nodules Most estimates of the cost of mining the manganese nodules fall in the range of $5 t o $20 per ton of nodules in an operation producing at least one million tons of dry weight nodules per year (Mero, 1958, 1965a, 1972; Clauss, 1972; Kaufman and Rothstein, 1973).

Most of the publications focusing on strategic and economic aspects could be classified as either resource estimates [140][141][142][143][144][145], mostly for nodules, or papers examining the ...