scholarly journals Exploration of Polymetallic Nodules and Resource Assessment: A Case Study from the German Contract Area in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone of the Tropical Northeast Pacific

Minerals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 618
Author(s):  
Thomas Kuhn ◽  
Carsten Rühlemann
Keyword(s):  
Mineral Resources ◽  
Resource Assessment ◽  
Statistical Correlation ◽  
Total Size ◽  
Minor Variation ◽  
Neural Network Approach ◽  
Entire Area ◽  
Northeast Pacific ◽  
Polymetallic Nodules ◽  
Metal Contents

In 2006, the BGR signed a contract with the International Seabed Authority (ISA) for the exploration of polymetallic nodules in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone of the northeast Pacific. During nine expeditions, in particular, “Area E1”, the eastern part of the contract area, with a size of ~60,000 km2, was explored in detail. Here, we outline BGR’s exploration methods and provide resource estimates for Area E1 and three sub-areas. The resource assessment is predominantly based on statistical analyses of data obtained by 12-kHz multibeam bathymetry and backscatter mapping, box core sampling and geochemical analysis of nodules. The main parameter for the assessment is the nodule abundance (kg/m2), as its coefficient of variation (CoV) over the entire eastern contract area is relatively high at 36%. In contrast, the metal contents of nodules show only minor variation, with a CoV of 8% for manganese and 8% for the sum of copper, nickel and cobalt. To estimate mineral resources for the entire Area E1, we used an artificial neural network approach with a multivariate statistical correlation between nodule abundance derived from box cores and hydro-acoustic data. The total estimated resources are 540 ± 189 million tonnes (Mt) of dry nodules, and the total estimated metal contents are 168 Mt of manganese, 7.5 Mt of nickel, 6.3 Mt of copper, 0.9 Mt of cobalt, 0.4 Mt of rare-earth elements and 0.3 Mt of molybdenum. A geostatistical resource estimate of three economically prospective areas with a total size of 4498 km2, intensively sampled by box cores, was carried out using ordinary kriging of nodule abundance and metal grades. Within these three nodule fields, 7.14 Mt of dry nodules are classified as measured mineral resources covering an area of 489 km2. Indicated mineral resources amount to 11.2 Mt, covering an area of 825 km2, and inferred mineral resources of 35.5 Mt of dry nodules were estimated for an area of 3184 km2. In total, the metal contents of the three prospective areas amount to 16.8 Mt of manganese, 0.74 Mt of nickel, 0.63 Mt of copper and 0.09 Mt of cobalt.

scholarly journals Quantitative Expression of the Burial Phenomenon of Deep Seafloor Manganese Nodules

Minerals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 227
Author(s):  
Akira Tsune
Keyword(s):  
Recent Progress ◽  
Mathematical Expression ◽  
Mineral Resources ◽  
Economic Potential ◽  
Visual Data ◽  
Manganese Nodules ◽  
Quantitative Expression ◽  
Size Number ◽  
Polymetallic Nodules ◽  
Geological Origin

Manganese (polymetallic) nodules on the deep seafloor in the open ocean have attracted great interest because of their economic potential. Visual data on nodules found on the deep seafloor such as photographs and videos have increased exponentially with the recent progress of related technologies. These data are expected to reflect useful information for estimating these mineral resources, as well as understanding their geological origin. Although the size, number, and coverage of manganese nodules have been measured in seafloor images, the burial of such nodules has not been sufficiently examined. This paper focuses on mathematical expression of the burial of the manganese nodules and attempts to quantitatively elucidate relations among burial degree and nodule geological parameters. The results, that is, a dataset obtained by calculations of relations among parameters, are also utilized for considerations of quantitative expression of burial. These considerations are expected to contribute to a better understanding of the geological origin of manganese nodules.

Marine Authigenic Deposits Mineral - New Fields for the Development of Rare Earth Resources

2011 ◽  
Vol 291-294 ◽  
pp. 1748-1751
Author(s):  
Ying Zhang ◽  
Chang Shui Liu ◽  
Lian Feng Gao ◽  
Zhen Guo Zhang ◽  
Peng Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Rare Earth ◽  
Rare Earth Metals ◽  
Mineral Resources ◽  
Resource Depletion ◽  
Polymetallic Nodules ◽  
Growth History ◽  
Valuable Metals ◽  
The World ◽  
Development And Utilization ◽  
Rare Earth Mineral

Rare earth metals are an important strategic resource. Due to scarce reserves, and large consumer demand, it is facing the crisis of resource depletion. Marine are the largest deposits sites in the world. In the long growth history, marine autogenic sedimentary mineral, such as polymetallic nodules, crusts with large quantities, not only contain the enrichment of Mn, Fe, Co, Cu, Ni and other valuable metals, but also contain extremely rare earth elements (REE) in the crust. Thus, in the process of developing marine mineral resources, Mn, Fe, Co, Cu, Ni and other metals are used, while it is possible for the development and utilization of the associated rare earth mineral. Marine may become a new field of rare earth resources development.

scholarly journals The Recovery of Valuable Metals from Ocean Polymetallic Nodules Using Solid-State Metalized Reduction Technology

Minerals ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Feng Zhao ◽  
Xunxiong Jiang ◽  
Shengdong Wang ◽  
Linyong Feng ◽  
Da Li
Keyword(s):  
Solid State ◽  
Magnetic Separation ◽  
Ferrous Metal ◽  
Mineral Resources ◽  
Metal Extraction ◽  
Metallic State ◽  
Ferrous Metals ◽  
Polymetallic Nodules ◽  
Valuable Metals ◽  
Pre Treatment

Ocean polymetallic nodules are oxide ores rich in Ni, Co, Cu, and Mn, which are valuable metals found in deep-sea mineral resources. Such non-ferrous metals do not exist in isolation, and producing concentrates using conventional mineral separation techniques is challenging without pre-treatment. We propose an effective, environmentally-friendly recovery technology combined with solid-state metalized reduction treatment and magnetic separation to recycle these metals from ocean polymetallic nodules. We conducted single-factor tests to investigate the effects of additives, anthracite dosage, duration, and reduction temperature on metal recovery and to obtain optimal operating parameters. We found that valuable metals in ocean polymetallic nodules may be selectively reduced to a metallic state. Only a fraction of Mn was reduced to metal. The reduced metals were recovered to concentrates using magnetic separation. More than 80% of these metals were concentrated to magnetic concentrates with mass ratios of 10–15%. The recovery rates of Ni, Co, Cu, Mn, and Fe in concentrates were optimum at 86.48%, 86.74%, 83.91%, 5.63%, and 91.46%, respectively, when using CaF2 4%, anthracite 7%, SiO2 dosage 5%, and FeS 6% at 1100 °C for 2.5 h. This approach to non-ferrous metal extraction using conventional hydrometallurgical processes could be a step toward practical industrial-scale techniques for the recovery of metals from polymetallic nodules.

scholarly journals Accumulation and distribution of heavy metals in surface sediments of a semienclosed basin in the southeastern Mediterranean Sea, Egypt

2007 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 31 ◽  
Author(s):  
M.A.M. ABDALLAH
Keyword(s):  
Heavy Metals ◽  
Mediterranean Sea ◽  
Surface Sediments ◽  
Geoaccumulation Index ◽  
Enrichment Factors ◽  
Mediterranean Coast ◽  
Surficial Sediments ◽  
Entire Area ◽  
Metal Contents ◽  
Alexandria City

The distribution, enrichment and accumulation of heavy metals in the surficial sediments of the Alexandria City Eastern Harbour (Mediterranean coast of Egypt) were investigated. Surface sediments (in the <63mm fraction) collected from 12 sites representing the entire area of the harbour, were analyzed by AAS for Cd, Cu, Zn, Cr, Pb and Al. Metal contents were compared with literature data to assess the pollution status of sediments. Enrichment factors (EFs) and the geoaccumulation Index (Igeo) were calculated as a criterion of possible contamination.

Integration of Grades, Tonnages, Number of Deposits, and Economic Effects

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald Singer ◽  
W. David Menzie
Keyword(s):  
Mineral Resource ◽  
Decision Maker ◽  
Mineral Resources ◽  
Resource Assessment ◽  
Economic Effects ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Frequency Distributions ◽  
Undiscovered Deposits ◽  
Quantitative Mineral Resource Assessment

Now that all of the fundamental parts of a quantitative mineral resource assessment have been discussed, it is useful to reflect on why all of the work has been done. As mentioned in chapter 1, it is quite easy to generate an assessment of the “potential” for undiscovered mineral resources. Aside from the question of what, if anything, “potential” means, there is the more serious question of whether a decision-maker has any use for it. The three-part form of assessment is part of a system designed to respond to the needs of decision-makers. Although many challenging ideas are presented in this book, it has a different purpose than most academic reports. This book has the same goal as Allais (1957)—to provide information useful to decision makers. Unfortunately, handing a decision-maker a map with some tracts outlined and frequency distributions of some tonnages and grades along with estimates of the number of deposits that might exist along with their associated probabilities is not really being helpful—these need to be converted to a language understandable to others. This chapter summarizes how these various estimates can be combined and put in more useful forms. If assessments were conducted only to estimate amounts of undiscovered metals, we would need contained metal models and estimates of the number of undiscovered deposits. Grades are simply the ratio of contained metal to tons of ore (chapter 6), so contained metal estimates are available for each deposit. In the simplest of all cases, one could estimate the expected number of deposits with equation 8.1 (see chapter 8) and multiply it by the expected amount of metal per deposit, such as the 27,770 tons of copper in table 9.1, to make an estimate of the expected amount of undiscovered metal. As pointed out in chapter 1, expected amounts of resources or their values can be very misleading because they provide no information about how uncommon the expected value can be with skewed frequency distributions that are common in mineral resources; that is, uncertainty is ignored.

scholarly journals Artificial neural network approach to modelling of metal contents in different types of chocolates

2015 ◽  
Vol 62 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lidija Jevrić ◽  
Sanja Podunavac-Kuzmanović ◽  
Jaroslava Švarc-Gajić ◽  
Strahinja Kovačević ◽  
Ivana Vasiljević ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Neural Network ◽  
Artificial Neural Network ◽  
Network Approach ◽  
Neural Network Approach ◽  
Metal Contents ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Artificial Neural ◽  
Artificial Neural Network Approach

Causative Mechanism of the Continental Margin Polymetallic Nodules from the South China Sea and its Resource Effects

2012 ◽  
Vol 524-527 ◽  
pp. 408-412
Author(s):  
Zhen Guo Zhang ◽  
Chang Shui Liu ◽  
Lian Feng Gao ◽  
Ying Zhang ◽  
Guo Yuan Shi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Rare Earth ◽  
South China Sea ◽  
Rare Earth Elements ◽  
Continental Margin ◽  
South China ◽  
Manganese Oxides ◽  
Mineral Resources ◽  
China Sea ◽  
Polymetallic Nodules ◽  
Fe And Mn

Polymetallic nodules are one of the most important sedimentary mineral resources in the ocean, in which iron, manganese, copper, cobalt, nickel and other metals are rich, and rare earth elements are rich, too. The samples are collected from the northwest continental margin of South China Sea (SCS). Their model show the similar appearance to the oceanic nodules which collected from the Pacific and Indian Ocean. They are big, regular shape and clear layers. But their geochemical characteristics show distinct difference with oceanic nodules.The samples formed by multiple millimeter-thick layers of Fe and Mn oxyhydroxides surrounding the nucleus composed of plastic marl and sediment. Massive, laminated, detrital and mottled to dendritic textural features were developed by the Fe and Mn oxyhydroxide layers.Based on the detailed study of the geochemistry and growth rate, the nodules may represent new-type ones which grow fastly in high sediment rates environment from the northwest continental margin of the SCS. The reason of the fast growth may be affected by the environmental fluctuations and the change of terrigenous sediments. Elements correlation of Mn-Fe-(Cu+Ni) suggests that the origin of the sample may be of hydrogenic. It may be show that these nodules are dominative of the special environment of the marginal sea which includes the geographical condition and the oceanic environmental factors. The average content of Rare Earth Elements (REEs) in these samples are much higher than those recorded in Earth’ crust and sedimentary rocks. The enrichment of rare earth elements is controlled by iron and manganese oxides and clay minerals in nodules, which could absorb rare earth elements from seawater and terrigenous sediment. Ce elements are highly enriched, making polymetallic nodules become the first used rare earth elements in oceanic mineral development.

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