Minerals Report - International Seabed Authority
Minerals Report - International Seabed Authority Minerals Report - International Seabed Authority
CHAPTER 3 REGIONAL AND LOCAL VARIABILITY IN THE SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION OF COBALT-BEARING FERROMANGANESE CRUSTS IN THE WORLD’S OCEAN V.M. Yubko, M.E. Melnikov State Scientific Centre, Yuzhmorgeologiya Russian Federation Y. B. Kazmin, A.I. Glumov Ministry of Natural Resources of the Russian Federation The study of cobalt-bearing ferromanganese crusts, one type of mineral resource of the World Ocean seabed, and the possibility of their commercial exploitation, has reached such a stage that there are grounds to address the problem of their exploration and further exploitation not only theoretically, but practically. Modern knowledge of this type of mineral resource was substantiated by the results of specialized research work that has been actively carried out since the end of the 1970s by various scientific and commercial companies from France, Germany, Japan, Russia and the United States. The high level of existing knowledge helps not only to characterize the extent of these crusts, but to validate criteria for prediction and exploration of cobalt-bearing crust fields, and in some cases, to assess their economic significance. The first Russian studies concerning cobalt-bearing ferromanganese crusts were carried out on separate guyots of the Marcus-Necker Ridge (the Mid-Pacific Mountains) of the Central Pacific Ocean in 1968, and in 1970 during the 43 rd and 48 th cruises of RV “Vitiaz” of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Later, as a result of 30 sea cruises of the Academy of Sciences and the Ministry of Natural Resources that were carried out in different regions of the World Oceans much data were obtained about the extent, bedding and features of the structure and composition of ferromanganese crusts which evolved on submarine mountains and uplifts. INTERNATIONAL SEABED AUTHORITY 162
Recently, all the acquired and available published data were systematized and a multi-tier graphical database on cobalt-bearing ferromanganese crusts on the ocean floor was created. Currently the database contains parameters on ore abundance from 20 ore provinces and 64 regions where crusts deposits are located This database is based on information obtained from 2217 sample stations (Figure 1). The digital tiers of the database represent different kinds of maps (bathymetric, geological, metallogenic, etc.) of deposits for the different regions of the oceans, based on the size of the deposits. Five classes are distinguished. INTERNATIONAL SEABED AUTHORITY 163
- Page 120 and 121: 0° 30° 30° 60° Explorer Ridge C
- Page 122 and 123: 3. Hydrothermal Convection At ocean
- Page 124 and 125: Due to its increased buoyancy at hi
- Page 126 and 127: 5. Metal Contents Despite moderate
- Page 128 and 129: (11.8 wt.%), and have high concentr
- Page 130 and 131: Table 3: Size and Tonnage - Atlanti
- Page 132 and 133: Local enrichment of more than 40 pp
- Page 134 and 135: the Red Sea, Middle Valley, Explore
- Page 136 and 137: Table 8: Advantages of Seafloor Mas
- Page 138 and 139: 60 kg Au) located on the neighbouri
- Page 140 and 141: 9. Perspective If further explorati
- Page 142 and 143: 3. J.M. Franklin, J.W. Lydon, and D
- Page 144 and 145: 19. R.A. Zierenberg, Y. Fouquet, D.
- Page 146 and 147: 35. J. Collier, M. Sinha (1990), Se
- Page 148 and 149: 53. P.M. Herzig, Y. Fouquet, M.D. H
- Page 150 and 151: 68. M.D. Hannington, J.M. Peter, an
- Page 152 and 153: 85. The New York Times (1997), Firs
- Page 154 and 155: southern segment is a fast-spreadin
- Page 156 and 157: Professor Herzig said that the spec
- Page 158 and 159: Professor Herzig said that the depo
- Page 160 and 161: Professor Herzig informed participa
- Page 162 and 163: he informed participants that in ad
- Page 164 and 165: In relation to Conical Seamount, Pr
- Page 166 and 167: deposits is essential to reliably a
- Page 168 and 169: would be removed from the deposit.
- Page 172 and 173: � Metallogenic provinces that are
- Page 174 and 175: A digital map of ore-bearing region
- Page 176 and 177: of the slopes in between 1500-3000m
- Page 178 and 179: development there are areas with ma
- Page 180 and 181: Regarding the formation of the firs
- Page 182 and 183: SUMMARY OF THE PRESENTATION AND DIS
- Page 184 and 185: the Juan-de-Fuca Ridge, the Guaymas
- Page 186 and 187: Intensive investigations resulted i
- Page 188 and 189: Based on the potential resources co
- Page 190 and 191: It should be noted that other massi
- Page 192 and 193: Generally, the massive sulphides or
- Page 194 and 195: With regard to the gold values repo
- Page 196 and 197: CHAPTER 5 COBALT-RICH FERROMANGANES
- Page 198 and 199: Current patterns, topography, botto
- Page 200 and 201: Table 1: Contents of manganese, iro
- Page 202 and 203: INTERNATIONAL SEABED AUTHORITY 194
- Page 204 and 205: Depth (km) 0 100 200 0 1 2 3 4 5 O
- Page 206 and 207: sediment. Those thinly veiled crust
- Page 208 and 209: Table 3: Cruises dedicated to the s
- Page 210 and 211: today. Field studies by the USA, Ge
- Page 212 and 213: Phosphorite and fresh basalt are st
- Page 214 and 215: 3.2. Mineralogy The mineralogy of b
- Page 216 and 217: Samples 25 20 15 10 5 0 Growth Rate
- Page 218 and 219: 3.4. Chemical Composition All USGS
Recently, all the acquired and available published data were<br />
systematized and a multi-tier graphical database on cobalt-bearing<br />
ferromanganese crusts on the ocean floor was created. Currently the database<br />
contains parameters on ore abundance from 20 ore provinces and 64 regions<br />
where crusts deposits are located This database is based on information<br />
obtained from 2217 sample stations (Figure 1).<br />
The digital tiers of the database represent different kinds of maps<br />
(bathymetric, geological, metallogenic, etc.) of deposits for the different<br />
regions of the oceans, based on the size of the deposits. Five classes are<br />
distinguished.<br />
INTERNATIONAL SEABED AUTHORITY 163