Minerals Report - International Seabed Authority
Minerals Report - International Seabed Authority Minerals Report - International Seabed Authority
classification system, Mr. Lenoble described the three types of mineral resources of the Area as inferred reserves. Mr. Lenoble said that to estimate the tonnage and metal content of a deep-sea mineral deposit information is required about the deposit’s characteristics. He also said that basic information on technology for mining and processing the ore is necessary. He then turned his attention to the information available for all three mineral deposits, starting with polymetallic nodule deposits. With regard to polymetallic nodule deposits, Mr. Lenoble stated that he would not introduce any new information. He reminded participants of deposits of polymetallic nodules in the central Pacific Ocean that occur at depths between 4,500 to more than 5,000 metres, on gentle hills that are oriented generally north-south, and widely dispersed. He told participants that the data for polymetallic nodule deposits in his study is from the IFREMER/AFERNOD work on deposits in the central Pacific in the French registered area. He said that a geostatistical simulation of prime areas in this site was conducted with the objective of finding suitable nodules in flat areas where there are no cliffs. With slides, Mr. Lenoble showed participants the results of this work, including photographs of seafloor areas where the coverage of nodules (abundance) is up to 14 kilograms per square metre. He also showed photographs of areas that he described as targets for future mining pointing out how three or four different areas that were geographically close would be required to fulfil a production target of 1.5 million dry tonnes of nodules per year. Mr. Lenoble said that a characteristic of these areas is that they are each about 50 square kilometres with an east-west width of 1-5kms. With regard to mining technology, Mr. Lenoble said that a system is required to collect at least 14 kilograms per square metre of nodules from the seafloor with an annual production target of 1.5 million tonnes. He also said that the average grade of the identified deposit is 30 percent manganese, 1.37 per cent nickel, 1.25 per cent copper and 0.25 per cent cobalt. INTERNATIONAL SEABED AUTHORITY 458
With regard to cobalt-rich ferromanganese crusts, Mr. Lenoble said that these deposits occur in water depths between 800 metres to 2,000 metres. With slides, he described the morphology typical cobalt-rich crusts deposit that he said are to be found on the flanks of seamounts, and on inclines that are not very steep. Since the mined ores will have to be processed on land, Mr. Lenoble pointed out that the distance to port of known deposits in the Area vary from hundreds of kilometres to 2,500 km. With slides, Mr. Lenoble told participants that the average size of candidate mining areas of encrustations range between 50 and 200 square kilometres. Mr. Lenoble described a known crusts deposit as one where crusts cover 90 percent of the seafloor area, on a seamount slope of less than 5 percent, with crusts’ thickness varying from 2 to 20 centimetres, and with average grades of 0.33 percent of cobalt, 0.2 per cent nickel, 0.06 per cent copper, 10 percent manganese and 8 percent iron. He also informed participants that the cobalt rich part of this crusts deposit occurs in the top 0.123 centimetres of the deposit. With regard to seafloor polymetallic massive sulphides, Mr. Lenoble said that as had been discussed in earlier presentations, these deposits occur at water depths between 1,400 metres and 3,600 metres. Mr. Lenoble said that the morphology of these deposits are different, and comprise chimneys, mounds, sediment layers, blocks, breccias, conglomerates, etc. He noted that the ore might occur as veins in altered or unaltered rocks. Again, based on the need to process these ores on land, Mr. Lenoble pointed out that the distance to ports, as is the case for cobalt crusts deposits of the Area, varies from 700 to more than 2,500 kilometres. With regard to technology for mining polymetallic massive sulphides, Mr. Lenoble described it as an open question. He pointed out that while a lot of work has been done for nodule deposits, and possible configurations have been decided in the event of an upturn in the relevant metal markets, far less work had been undertaken on cobalt crusts and even less on massive sulphides. The key parameter in mining technology development, according to Mr. Lenoble, is the depth of occurrence of the deposits. Nodules of commercial interest are found at 5,000 metres depth, and cobalt-rich crusts and massive sulphides at 1,000 and 2,500 metres depth respectively. He also said that nodule deposits are two-dimensional, crusts more or less twodimensional, and massive sulphides, typically three-dimensional. INTERNATIONAL SEABED AUTHORITY 459
- Page 416 and 417: 87. Muller, R.D., Roest, W.R., Roye
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- Page 432 and 433: CHAPTER 11 A COMPARISON OF THE POSS
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- Page 438 and 439: economic value. Phosphatisation has
- Page 440 and 441: The morphology of the mineral edifi
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- Page 444 and 445: Detailed exploration has not been c
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- Page 450 and 451: 3.2. Assumptions made for each kind
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- Page 454 and 455: ought the nickel price to a top. Th
- Page 456 and 457: Because the metal market economy is
- Page 458 and 459: 14. J. -P. Lenoble (1992), Future d
- Page 460 and 461: 31. J. Francheteau, D. Needham, P.
- Page 462 and 463: 48. J. -P. Lenoble (1996), Les nodu
- Page 464 and 465: 66. J. -J. Prédali and J. -P. Polg
- Page 468 and 469: To recapitulate the sizes and possi
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- Page 472 and 473: international community is only jus
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- Page 476 and 477: The Secretary-General said that the
- Page 478 and 479: Mr. Nandan pointed out that the nex
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- Page 482 and 483: prospecting would be more applicabl
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- Page 492 and 493: CHAPTER 13 PETROLEUM POTENTIAL AND
- Page 494 and 495: structure and filled with sediments
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- Page 498 and 499: during the late Mesozoic-Cenozoic s
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classification system, Mr. Lenoble described the three types of mineral<br />
resources of the Area as inferred reserves.<br />
Mr. Lenoble said that to estimate the tonnage and metal content of a<br />
deep-sea mineral deposit information is required about the deposit’s<br />
characteristics. He also said that basic information on technology for mining<br />
and processing the ore is necessary. He then turned his attention to the<br />
information available for all three mineral deposits, starting with polymetallic<br />
nodule deposits.<br />
With regard to polymetallic nodule deposits, Mr. Lenoble stated that<br />
he would not introduce any new information. He reminded participants of<br />
deposits of polymetallic nodules in the central Pacific Ocean that occur at<br />
depths between 4,500 to more than 5,000 metres, on gentle hills that are<br />
oriented generally north-south, and widely dispersed.<br />
He told participants that the data for polymetallic nodule deposits in<br />
his study is from the IFREMER/AFERNOD work on deposits in the central<br />
Pacific in the French registered area. He said that a geostatistical simulation<br />
of prime areas in this site was conducted with the objective of finding suitable<br />
nodules in flat areas where there are no cliffs. With slides, Mr. Lenoble<br />
showed participants the results of this work, including photographs of<br />
seafloor areas where the coverage of nodules (abundance) is up to 14<br />
kilograms per square metre. He also showed photographs of areas that he<br />
described as targets for future mining pointing out how three or four different<br />
areas that were geographically close would be required to fulfil a production<br />
target of 1.5 million dry tonnes of nodules per year.<br />
Mr. Lenoble said that a characteristic of these areas is that they are<br />
each about 50 square kilometres with an east-west width of 1-5kms. With<br />
regard to mining technology, Mr. Lenoble said that a system is required to<br />
collect at least 14 kilograms per square metre of nodules from the seafloor<br />
with an annual production target of 1.5 million tonnes. He also said that the<br />
average grade of the identified deposit is 30 percent manganese, 1.37 per cent<br />
nickel, 1.25 per cent copper and 0.25 per cent cobalt.<br />
INTERNATIONAL SEABED AUTHORITY 458
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