Minerals Report - International Seabed Authority

een happily persuaded in the other direction in terms of whether they are
recoverable or not.
With regard to the mineral deposit that he thought would come on
stream first, Dr. Parson said that he would have very little hesitation to say
that it would be the cobalt-rich ferromanganese crusts deposits. While noting
that in all three cases, serious steps have to be taken in order for mining to
take place, Dr. Parson said that the crusts deposits seem to be the easiest of the
three to mine.
Another participant made the observation that in Dr. Parson’s
presentation he had said that given the availability of land-based phosphorite
deposits he did not see significant efforts being made to develop marine
phosphorites. This participant pointed out that within the next couple of years
the United States would see a change in its position as a net exporter of
phosphorites to a net importer of phosphorites. This participant said that
while it did not mean that the United States would be mining marine
phosphorites immediately, the situation rewarding these deposits may not be
quite as pessimistic as indicated. This participant pointed out that there are
extensive phosphorite deposits, for example on the Blake Plateau in offshore
Florida in North America, so that offshore exploitation could have some
potential in the medium term. This participant pointed out that in addition to
the insular or atoll phosphorites on the continental shelf, in most of the
seamounts of the world that have been studied, a different type of
phosphorite deposit has been found on them.
In relation to Dr. Parsons’s comments on the deadline for submitting
applications for extended continental shelves, another participant pointed out
that during recent discussions at the Commission, 1996 and not 1994 is the
year taken as the commencement of the Commission’s work. As a result the
deadline would be 2006.
With regard to the sizes of exploration areas for exploration for
seafloor polymetallic sulphides deposits, one participant said that listening to
the talks over the last few days, he is of the opinion that these are small
deposits with fragmented continuity. He said that from an industry point of
view, large areas have to be provided for in exploration licences so that the
INTERNATIONAL SEABED AUTHORITY 760