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By Andreas Kaede

INTRODUCTION Due both to the political history of UNCLOS and the sensitivity of the ocean floor and environment to man made impacts, both the Convention (including also the 1994 Amendment) and subsequent codification (such as the ISA draft code on Exploitation of Mineral Resources in the Area) put a focus on information about, and conveyance of, technology employed by interested deepsea mining companies, to inter alia the Authority and developing countries. In contrast, companies usually are (or by their nature should be) interested in safeguarding their technology and business secrets in order to secure unique selling propositions in a competitive environment. On the background of the meanwhile maturing regulatory régimes on deep sea mining, the presentation will look into some of the key regulatory provisions mirroring these apparently antagonistic interests, how the players involved could deal with them, and how they might in some cases be reconciled. Progress of Presentation The presentation will start by briefly examining some classical methods of protection of technology, such as patents, copyrights, and (not the least) secrecy. It will be found that some of the statutory means of protection due to their territorial character may face problems in being implemented in areas outside national jurisdiction, such as the Area, but that, thinking globally, they nevertheless retain much of their value for the purpose of protection. Depending on available presentation time, a model case may be used to illustrate the above – and also some of the following – findings.

Jan 1, 2018

By Peter B. Hale

Canada has a long history of marine-related industry and onshore mining. Even so, commercial interest in marine mining, excluding seawater mineral extraction and offshore extensions of hardrock deposits such as iron and coal, has been sporadic; despite the fact that shelf mineral deposits supply a significant proportion of the national market requirements for many countries. Several factors have accounted for this including: a relative abundance of onland mineral desposits; the fact that onland deposits can be mined using conventional technology; and, a general lack of knowledge and public awareness as to Canadian offshore non-fuel mineral resource potential. In the mid-1970s the Department of Energy, Mines & Resources formed the Departmental Coordinating Committee on Ocean Mining. The Committee addressed the question of shelf non-fuel mineral resource potential and concluded that, while several reports had raised the possibilty of this alternative source, there had not been a systematic evaluation of the resource base. This led to the formation of a Shelf Working Group, whose task it was to outline and implement a departmental program to advance our knowledge of shelf resource potential. A methodology was devised that utilized existing geoscientific and hydrographic

Jan 1, 1985

By Kyung-Ho Park

The smelting leaching process is known as one of the most favorite methods for the processing of deep-sea manganese nodules because of its smaller environmental impact and easiness of manganese recovery. The sulphuric acid pressure leaching of the matte prepared from deep-sea manganese nodules was studied to dissolve the valuable metals. Almost complete dissolution of Cu, Ni, and Co from matte was achieved under the following conditions: leaching temperature 180°C, time 4 hours, PO2 10 kgs/cm2, acid concentration 2.5% (vol/vol), pulp density 5%, ammonium sulphate 40 g/l. Under these conditions the iron concentration of leach liquor was 0.95 g/l. Optimization of leaching parameters was carried out by statistical design of experiments using 23 full factorial matrix. The linear and interaction co-efficients were evaluated for dissolution of metal values and also for iron concentration in leach liquors.

Jan 1, 2003

By Benjamin W. Haynes

The Federal government has a lengthy history in supporting and conducting research in the ocean mining and minerals field. The Federal effort has been and is currently focused primarily in four agencies: the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) within the Department of Commerce, and the Geological Survey (USGS), the Bureau of Mines (BuMines), and more recently the Minerals Management Service (MMS) within the Department of the Interior. While NOAA and the USGS have played dominant roles in mapping and geologic studies, and the MMS has recently provided funding for several task force studies within the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) , the Bureau of Mines has conducted research in mining technology, minerals processing, resource definition, and economic evaluation of minerals from the seabed for over 20 years. These studies have yielded considerable minerals information regarding manganese nodules and crusts, placers, mineral sands, phosphorites, and sulfides. This paper reviews the past achievements in ocean mining and minerals programs starting in the late 1960's, describes current research and information efforts, and presents an outlook for Bureau of Mines research and information gathering efforts. Specific topics

Jan 1, 1989

By Richard H. T. Garnett

The first, profitable, marine placer mining started with tin 100 years ago but no major industry developed until the mid-20th. Century. Dredging at sea yielded cassiterite in both South Thailand and Indonesia, and remains an important state-run industry in the latter country. Malaysia and Russia have also contributed production, and the coastal waters of Tasmania and England have been explored. Marine placer deposits of gold have been examined in New Zealand, Chile, Argentina, Russia and West Africa. Philippino deposits were dredged during the 1930s. Fifty years later, at Nome in Alaska, gold was recovered by dredging from the offshore, and the technical/economic benefits of a seabed-deployed crawler were first demonstrated. Off the coast of Namibia placer diamonds were recovered by airlift mining during the 1960’s, but De Beers effectively started the existing marine diamond industry in 1989. The Wirth drill and a crawler continue to be used by the company, and plans recently have been announced for operations in South African waters. Other commodities such as mineral sands, platinum group minerals, and chromite have been investigated offshore in several worldwide localities.

Aug 24, 2006

By M. E. Williamson

A seafloor based robotic drilling system is being developed for the National Institute of Ocean Technology in Chennai, India to support a National initiative for marine methane hydrate research. The system will be capable of core sampling to 150m below the seafloor in 3000m of water under telemetric control of an operator onboard a research vessel at the surface. Unlike previous robotic drilling systems, this unit (designated the ACS) will use wireline methodology to reduce the number of tool handling operations required to complete the borehole (conventional rod drilling requires 2025 tool handling operations to complete a 100m hole, while wireline requires only 48 operations to reach the same depth).

By Virginie Tilot de Grissac

This project funded by Government of Flanders (Belgium) and coordinated by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission proposes to draw recommendations for conservation of the biodiversity and for minimizing the impact of future nodule mining from the description of the referential state of suprabenthic megafaunal assemblages within a nodule ecosystem in the Clarion-Clipperton Fracture Zone (CCFZ). The description of this specific ecosystem is based on the analysis of about 200 000 photographs and some 55 hours of film collected by French and American exploratory cruises. The video and hotographic sampling has been achieved by means of different towed and remote control devices designed for Ifremer and NOAA including the manned submersible “the Nautile.”

Aug 24, 2006

By V. Zaykov

The Urals massive sulfide deposits are concentrated in Silurian -Devonian fold belt extending for 1500 km with length from 50 to 150 km. By paleodynamic reconstmction it is established that they were formed in submarine parts of island arcs, in inter arc and back arc basins, marginal seas. When "black smokers" were found in rift zones of present oceans, problem searching their analogues in the Urals Paleozoic complexes was arisen. For solving this problem and demonstration of seafloor origin of massive sulfide many quarries and drill cores were carefully sketched and studied. Particular attention was given to correlation between ores and synchronous sedimentary rocks and fossils. Various laboratory methods were used for comparing sulfides from ore hills with ore-clastic sulfides.

Jan 1, 1993

By Roger J. Daniel

Major interest and investment in southern Africa's west coast diamond deposits have resulted in the development of various tools for sampling and mining in the varied geological conditions encountered. Namco's project progression from sampling to mining is discussed with particular reference to the ROV technology employed for both phases of the operation. The Namrod sampling tool was mobilised in June 1995 and following extensive sampling resulting in resource definition, detailed research, design, and engineering was undertaken to develop the NamSSol mining system in conjunction with SubSea Offshore Ltd., a Dresser Industries company. Mining operations commenced in early 1998. History of the background to the development leading to design criteria, engineering considerations, operational parameters and discussion of field performance are presented. The innovative systems employed by Namco represent significant developments in a rapidly expanding technological field.

Jan 1, 1998

By Dan Johnson

The discovery of rich alluvial diamond deposits on Namibia?s Skeleton Coast in 1908 began a period of intense exploration and mining off the coastal sand; and shallow surf zones. In the mid-60s a Texas entrepreneur, Sam Rollins took the search to the seafloor. The inhospitable conditions encountered made the early going difficult. After a slow start, the past 10 years have seen much progress in geologist?s understanding of the deposition mechanics and the use of sophisticated geo-physical and sampling techniques to aid in the discovery of economic deposits. Diamondfields, in a joint venture with BHP and Benguela Concessions, began an exploration program in 1994 for sea-bed diamonds off the Port of Luderitz in Namibia. This program has progressed to a mine development program with the potential of creating a 500,000 carat per year operation. The mining technologies being considered include state-of-the-art, remotely operated sea-bed crawlers and high volume dredges feeding to semi-mobile processing platforms. The company's objective is to use the best proven technology to create an environmentally responsible operation with the lowest fixed operating costs and the longest and safest weather operating window of any offshore operator working Africa's diamond coast.

Jan 1, 1998

By Subramanian Rajendran

Placer minerals are one of the rich natural resources readily made available primarily and broadly in the form of inland placers, beach placers and offshore placers. The exploitation of placer minerals goes back in the history for a period of time immemorial in the form of alluvial placer mining. In India only 35% of coast has been scanned for beach placer minerals. The buried inland placers and offshore placers have not been given due attention. Integrated management and sustainable development of coastal and Open Ocean including the EEZ are of great importance to us. Judicious exploitation of non-renewable mineral resources plays an increasingly important role with regard to future economic and social development. This calls for newer techniques for exploring and analyzing more the seafloor. Though India could remain in the placer mining for the last four decades through the establishment of the Indian Rare Earth in both east and west coasts, the lack of necessary dynamism to expand such industry and catch the world market points out a significant setback. It is highly essential to establish the major trends of paleo-beaches, since some of them are definite to contain highly rich heavy mineral placers comparable to the one being mined by beach scraping. Placer deposits of heavy minerals occur in discontinuous patches on the beaches along the West Coast of India. In recent years the National Institute of Oceanography, India and the Geological Survey of India attempted to invest on nearshore placer exploration by applying the integrated survey techniques.

Jan 1, 2001

By Takashi Ito

Numerous studies have examined the distribution of deep-sea manganese deposits throughout geologic history. Here I summarize the recent results, focusing on the frequency of occurrence, burial age and mechanism, and the paleoceanographic implications.

By Steven D. Scott

A geologist can be likened to a medical pathologist trying to figure out from faint clues how something had lived and how it died, often long after the event. Present-day seafloor hydrothermalism has empowered geologists/pathologists to dissect a living system, in this case volcanogenic massive sulfides (vms) deposits of copper, zinc, lead, silver and gold. On the other hand, a considerable amount of our understanding of seafloor hydrothermal processes and its products stem from our knowledge, much of it from industry, of these same processes and products that formed ancient ores in oceans as much as 2700 million years ago and are now mined on land.

Aug 24, 2006

By Anthony T. Jones

Deep seabed mining requires technology to collect materials and transport them to the surface. An international patent search was conducted to define the state of the art in seabed mining technology. Over 350 patents were identified from 12 patent systems. The majority was from the United States, Japan, and the former USSR. Patent activity in this field peaked in 1983 when 34 patents were issued. Since 1984, on average 6 patents have been issued annually. The technology represents ten major classifications. With the exception of Deepsea Ventures, Kawasaki and International Nickel, it appears that much of the technology developed and tested in the 1970s by consortia active in seabed mining was never patented. Over the past two decades, identifiable trends in marine technology could influence seabed mining application such as more sophisticated communication systems, advances in hydraulic manipulators, improved computational technology in navigation, modeling of vessel ? ocean interactions, and improved materials. The most significant recent activity has been in European applications, which disclose remotely controlled subsea vehicles for mining diamonds.

Jan 1, 2001

By D. Cronan

Both the S.W. Pacific and Caribbean island arcs are host to submarine hydrothermal mineral deposits, the former more so than the latter. In the S.W. Pacific, the whole gamut of such deposits occurs on the sea floor, sulphides, silicates, Fe and Mn oxides, whereas during the limited studies to date in the Caribbean only hydrothermal Mn oxides have been found to occur on the sea floor there in any abundance. Comparisons between the respective Mn oxides are thus the most fruitful at the present limited stage of our knowledge of Caribbean submarine hydrothermalism. Southwest Pacific hydrothermal ferromanganese oxides and their possible relationships to underlying sulphide mineralisation or bedrock anomalies (the geochemical window concept) has been a fruitful field of research in recent years. Certain element enrichments in crusts may be indicative of underlying mineralisation (Rogers et al. 2001). However, more recent studies on buried hydrothermal crusts in the S.W. Pacific (Cronan et al. 2002) have shown there to have been postdepositional diagenetic uptake of elements in them, and thus these elements cannot be used with any confidence in geochemical exploration for buried sulphide deposits unless sediment involvement can be eliminated.

Jan 1, 2002

By G. A. Gross

Technological development in the last two decades has provided access to the deep seabed and opened a new frontier for exploration. Interest in Canada has focused mainly on study of metallic mineral occurrences and the development of a scientific data base and technology for identification and appraisal of potential mineral resources. Canadian industry and government have played an active part in the assessment of manganese nodule resource potential and the possible impact that development of these resources might have in the world mineral markets.

Jan 1, 1985

By Simon McDonald

The Neptune Group was established in 1999 to apply for exploration permits within New Zealand’s 200nm EEZ. These applications were to investigate and commercialise hydrothermal Seafloor Massive Sulphide (SMS) deposits identified by international researchers and to locate others. SMS are volcanically related seafloor accumulations of copper, lead and zinc with high levels of gold and silver. Neptune has three granted exploration licenses within the New Zealand EEZ and has application in other jurisdictions. Neptune undertook the world’s first commercial drilling exploration work of SMS in December of 2005.

Aug 24, 2006

By Fredrik Søreide

The Norwegian EEZ contains large areas of interest for SMS exploration along the Mid- Atlantic Ridge, from Jan Mayen to Svalbard. At the same time Norwegian companies engaged in oil and gas activities are in the forefront of subsea development. This makes Norway ideally positioned to take a leading role within marine minerals research and commercialization. In the recent minerals strategy from the Norwegian Government marine minerals was pointed out as one of the strategic areas for the future. The Norwegian University of Science and Technology has established a research program in cooperation with Norwegian industry partners to determine the commercial potential of marine minerals in Norwegian EEZ. This presentation will give an overview of the status of marine minerals research and potential in Norway.

Sep 14, 2011

By Yoshitaka Hosoi

The survey of the cobalt-rich crust of the Republic of the Marshall Islands was carried out in 1996 and 1998, as the cooperative study project between Japan and SOPAC member countries, and at the thirteen seamounts, seafloor topographic maps and acoustic reflection intensity distribution images by MBES were obtained, and the collection of samples by dredging was conducted. On the basis of the previous results, three seamounts, MS01, MS11 and MS12 were selected for the 2002 year survey, and drilling by BMS (deep sea boring system) was conducted there, to understand the occurrence of cobalt-rich crust. At the same time, environmental survey was carried out to make clear the environmental characteristics of the area. The summary of the survey will be reported.

Jan 1, 2003