Ocean Mining Technology

This comprehensive book contains contributions from specialists who provide a complete status update along with outstanding issues encompassing different topics related to deep-sea mining. Interest in exploration and exploitation of deep-sea minerals is seeing a revival due to diminishing grades and increasing costs of processing of terrestrial minerals as well as availability of several strategic metals in seabed mineral resources; it therefore becomes imperative to take stock of various issues related to deep-sea mining. The authors are experienced scientists and engineers from around the globe developing advanced technologies for mining and metallurgical extraction as well as performing deep sea exploration for several decades. They invite readers to learn about the resource potential of different deep-sea minerals, design considerations and development of mining systems, and the potential environmental impacts of mining in international waters.

This book is a sequel to ’Deep-Sea Mining: Resource Potential, Technical and Environmental Considerations’ (2017) and ‘Environmental Issues of Deep-Sea Mining: Impacts, Consequences and Policy Perspectives’ (2019), and aims to provide a comprehensive volume on different perspectives of deep-sea mining from specialists around the world. The work is timely, as deep-sea minerals continue to enthuse researchers involved in activities such as ascertaining their potential as alternative sources for critical metals for green energy and other industrial applications, as well as technology development for their sustainable exploration and exploitation, while addressing environmental concerns. With a steady increase in the number of contractors having exclusive rights over large tracts of seafloor in the ‘Area’, i.e. area beyond national jurisdictions, the International Seabed Authority, mandated with the responsibility of regulating such activities, is in the process of developing a code for exploitation of deep-sea minerals. These, coupled with growing interest among private entrepreneurs, investment companies and policy makers, underscore the need for updated information to be made available in one place on the subject of deep-sea mining. The book evaluates the potential and sustainability of mining for deep-sea minerals compared to other land-based deposits, the technologies needed for mining and processing of ores, the approach towards environmental monitoring and management, as well as the regulatory frameworks and legal challenges to manage deep-sea mining activities. The book is expected to serve as an important reference for all stakeholders including researchers, contractors, mining companies, regulators and NGOs involved in deep-sea mining.

Oceans have been the subject of scientific inquiry for hundreds of years, but significant study of mineral occurrences on the deep ocean floor has only begun to take place. Man's present knowledge of the ocean floor had to await the development of sophisticated research equipment capable of probing the ocean to great depths. This began in the 1940's and since then the accelerated pace of ocean research has generated a large amount of data on the ocean environment - mostly through the work of academic and governmental scientific organizations around the globe. These new scientific disclosures confirmed the wide-spread occurrence of metal-bearing lumps on the deep ocean floor that hold great promise as an important new source of raw material. Encouraged by these events, several groups of private, semi-private, and public enterprises became active; a transition occurred from scientific interest in the metal-bearing lumps to commercial interest. But these pioneer developers faced a formidable task. Information about the minerals and their environment of deposition was inadequate; technology for mining them continuously was non-existent and very little was known about the adaptability of processing technologies for land-based ores to these minerals.

The Mineral Resources of the Sea