New era of deep seabed mining is approaching

According to the plan issued by ISA, at present, 17 companies from China, the United Kingdom and Japan have obtained the seabed mining permit issued by the agency. ISA expects to officially accept the deepwater sea mining license application in 2016 as soon as possible. Michael Rocky, an ISA legal consultant, commented that "a new era of deep-seabed seabed mining is approaching."

Polymetallic ore is a kind of rock with high concentrations of metal minerals, distributed in the depth of 4000 to 6000 meters of seabed, rich in copper, nickel, cobalt, manganese and other metals. It was first discovered in 1868. At that time, the British "Challenger" conducted a scientific inspection of the ship in the Kara Sea in the Arctic Ocean outside Siberia. At the same time, it discovered that most of the world's oceans have such nodules.

Until recently, this kind of resource came back to people's attention again. According to ISA, the causes for renewed attention to this resource include a significant increase in metal demand and metal prices, and increased profitability of mining companies, and the tonnage and grade of nickel, copper and cobalt deposits on the mainland are shrinking. The deep-sea mineral exploration technology is making progress.

The facts also prove that this resource does have great commercial value. According to overseas media, exploration results from the Clarion-Clipperton mining area in the Eastern Pacific Ocean indicate that this area of ​​about 5 million square kilometers is likely to contain 27 billion tons of TB. Including 7 billion tons of manganese, 340 million tons of nickel and 290 million tons of copper and 78 million tons of cobalt. According to reports, the metal content of nodules in seafloor mines is as high as 28%, which is about 10 times that of onshore ores.

Professor Rachel Mills, a marine chemist at the University of Southampton, said that everything around us and our way of life are dependent on mineral resources, but we don't often ask where they come from. “We need to find out whether there is still continuous mineral resources on the continent that can be exploited. Is there such a resource in the ocean?”

Canada’s Nautilus Mining Company is the first mining company to mine massive blocks of salt on the seabed. The company has obtained a mining license for the Solwara 1 Gold Copper flagship project authorized by the Government of Papua New Guinea, which is also the world’s first authorized marine project. According to ISA, the success of the project shows that private sector participation and financial institutions support the deep-sea mineral resource survey to realize commercialization benefits.

In 2011, ISA approved the application for exploration and mining of mineral resources on the seabed by China and Russia. Also approved were two subsea exploration applications for mining in the Pacific island countries of Nauru and Kingdom of Tonga. And at the ISA 18th annual meeting in 2012, five more applicants were approved, including the British government’s Undersea Resources Ltd., the State-owned Maravat Research and Exploration Company of the Republic of Kiribati, and the French government. Supported by the French Association for the Detection of Marine Research. This is also the number of licenses issued by the agency has risen to 17, which is far higher than the 8 in 2010.

From July to August 2012, ISA received two new applications for mining exploration licenses, including applications from China. China took the lead in applying for a cobalt-rich crust deposit in the western Pacific. This is the first time that China has applied to the International Seabed Authority for a mining area application after it first applied to the International Seabed Authority in 2010 to submit an application for a polymetallic mine zone. Another application came from the Japan Petroleum and Natural Gas Corporation, which applied for the exploration of ferromanganese nodule mines.