Minerals Report - International Seabed Authority

Area, taking into account metal prices, the cobalt market, environmental
factors and political considerations.
Dr. Hein was asked which mineral, nodules or crusts would be mined
first from the Area. He was also asked when he thought crusts mining would
occur given land-based reserves of cobalt. He was reminded that he had said
that in certain areas, the top part of the crusts was even more enriched in
cobalt. In that regard, Dr. Hein was asked where such crusts deposits are to
be found and the thickness of the associated crusts.
With regard to the more likely marine mineral to be exploited, Dr.
Hein said that based on current metal prices, he was of the opinion that it
would have to be cobalt-rich ferromanganese crusts. He noted that in his
computation of the value of a tonne of crusts ore, he did not even include the
contribution from manganese.
As concerns when crusts mining might occur, given present landbased
reserves of cobalt, Dr. Hein said that this was a subject that all
interested parties speculate about. He said that in his opinion, all the land use
priorities that affect land-based mining, including freshwater and recreational
issues, would eventually force mining into marine areas. He also said that
politics would play a part in this, together with world market prices, and the
development of some new deposits such as the new cobalt-nickel laterites that
are being developed in Australia. Dr. Hein said that the cobalt market has
been rather unstable in the past, first because of the political stability of the
major producers and second because cobalt is a by-product of copper
production. He noted that there are no real cobalt mines where the ore is
being mined primarily for its cobalt content. He said that recently there was
going to be a large cobalt mine developed at Boise Bay in Canada. This mine
is now on hold, and he did not know for how long. While the Boise Bay
deposit may not be mined for 10 or 20 years, Dr. Hein observed that when it is
mined, it would supply a large source of cobalt to world markets. With
regard to ferromanganese crusts deposits, while informing participants that
there are about 50,000 seamounts in the Pacific Ocean, Dr. Hein said that
production from one seamount would supply a proportion of the world’s
cobalt demand for a long time.
INTERNATIONAL SEABED AUTHORITY 267