The economic feasibility of deep-sea mining

Cameron, Hugh; Georghiou, Luke; Perry, John G.; Wiley, Paul M.

doi:10.1016/0167-188x(81)90019-7

Cited by 7 publications

(6 citation statements)

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“…When dCo is scavenged and removed from the water column in the form of pCo incorporated into Mn oxide particles, it sinks and forms vast regions of ferro-manganese oxide crusts and metal-rich nodules that accrete slowly along the seafloor (Aplin and Cronan, 1985). These nodules are formed from Mn oxide deposition over millennia and are rich in Co, Ni, Cd, Zn and rare earth elements (REEs) (Cameron et al, 1981;Hein et al, 2013). Such deposits are of interest to many because of the potential for deep-sea mining in the region, especially in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone of the central North Pacific basin.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, deep-sea mining and the potential heavy-metal rich sediment plumes it could create may have serious ramifications to the relatively fragile and unexplored benthic ecosystem in the region (Drazen et al, 2020;Fuchida et al, 2017;Sharma, 2011). Although the technology and facilities required to mine the deep sea have proven to be both complicated and expensive (Cameron et al, 1981), the potential new source of Co ore could, in theory, help support widespread adoption of electric vehicle fleets (Hein et al, 2013).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Major processes of the dissolved cobalt cycle in the North and equatorial Pacific Ocean

et al. 2022

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Abstract. Over the past decade, the GEOTRACES and wider trace metal geochemical community has made substantial contributions towards constraining the marine cobalt (Co) cycle and its major biogeochemical processes. However, few Co speciation studies have been conducted in the North and equatorial Pacific Ocean, a vast portion of the world's oceans by volume and an important end-member of deep thermohaline circulation. Dissolved Co (dCo) samples, including total dissolved and labile Co, were measured at-sea during the GEOTRACES Pacific Meridional Transect (GP15) expedition along the 152∘ W longitudinal from 56∘ N to 20∘ S. Along this transect, upper-ocean dCo (σ0<26) was linearly correlated with dissolved phosphate (slope = 82±3, µmol : mol) due to phytoplankton uptake and remineralization. As depth increased, dCo concentrations became increasingly decoupled from phosphate concentrations due to co-scavenging with manganese oxide particles in the mesopelagic. The transect revealed an organically bound coastal source of dCo to the Alaskan Stream associated with low-salinity waters. An intermediate-depth hydrothermal flux of dCo was observed off the Hawaiian coast at the Loihi Seamount, and the elevated dCo was correlated with potential xs3He at and above the vent site; however, the Loihi Seamount likely did not represent a major source of Co to the Pacific basin. Elevated concentrations of dCo within oxygen minimum zones (OMZs) in the equatorial North and South Pacific were consistent with the suppression of oxidative scavenging, and we estimate that future deoxygenation could increase the OMZ dCo inventory by 18 % to 36 % over the next century. In Pacific Deep Water (PDW), a fraction of elevated ligand-bound dCo appeared protected from scavenging by the high biogenic particle flux in the North Pacific basin. This finding is counter to previous expectations of low dCo concentrations in the deep Pacific due to scavenging over thermohaline circulation. Compared to a Co global biogeochemical model, the observed transect displayed more extreme inventories and fluxes of dCo than predicted by the model, suggesting a highly dynamic Pacific Co cycle.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Major processes of the dissolved cobalt cycle in the North and equatorial Pacific Ocean

et al. 2022

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“…The deep, bound Co fraction was protected from scavenging outside of the mesopelagic where most Mn-oxidizing bacteria are active. This finding represented a deviation from the expected thermohaline deep Co trend, which predicted the North Pacific would exhibit the lowest concentration of deep dCo globally due to slow but steady Co scavenging over deep ocean circulation (Hawco et al, 2018) millennia and are rich in Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, and rare earth elements (REEs) (Cameron et al, 1981;Hein et al, 2013). Co and REEs in particular are increasing in demand due to their use in personal electronic devices and sustainable energy solutions like electric vehicle batteries and wind turbine magnets (Hein et al, 2013).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 92%

Major processes of the dissolved cobalt cycle in the North and equatorial Pacific Ocean

Chmiel

Lanning

Laubach

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Abstract. Over the past decade, the GEOTRACES and wider trace metal geochemical community have made substantial contributions towards constraining the marine cobalt (Co) cycle and its major biogeochemical processes. However, few Co speciation studies have been conducted in the North and equatorial Pacific Ocean, a vast portion of the world’s oceans by volume and an important endmember of deep thermohaline circulation. Dissolved Co (dCo) samples, including total dissolved and labile Co, were measured at-sea during the GEOTRACES Pacific meridional transect (GP15) along the 152° W longitudinal from 56° N to 20° S. Along this transect, upper ocean dCo was linearly correlated to dissolved phosphate (slope = 82 ± 2 µM:M) due to phytoplankton uptake and remineralization. As depth increased, dCo concentrations became increasingly decoupled from phosphate concentrations due to co-scavenging with manganese oxide particles in the mesopelagic. The transect revealed an organically-bound coastal source of dCo to the Alaskan Stream associated with low salinity waters. An intermediate-depth hydrothermal flux of dCo was observed off the Hawaiian coast at the Loihi Seamount, and the elevated dCo was correlated to estimated xs3He at and above the vent site; however, the Loihi Seamount likely did not represent a major source of Co to the Pacific basin. Elevated concentrations of dCo within oxygen minimum zones (OMZs) in the equatorial North and South Pacific were consistent with the suppression of oxidative scavenging, and we estimate that future deoxygenation could increase the OMZ dCo inventory by 13–28 % over the next century. In North Pacific Deep Water (NPDW), a fraction of elevated ligand-bound dCo appeared protected from scavenging by the high biogenic particle flux in the North Pacific basin. This finding is counter to previous expectations of low dCo concentrations in the deep Pacific due to scavenging over thermohaline circulation. Compared to a Co global biogeochemical model, the observed transect displayed more extreme inventories and fluxes of dCo than predicted by the model, suggesting a highly dynamic Pacific Co cycle.

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“…These nodules are formed from Mn oxide deposition over millennia and are rich in Co, Ni, Cd, Zn and rare earth elements (REEs) (Cameron et al, 1981;. Such deposits are of interest to many because of the potential for deep-sea mining in the region, especially in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone of the central North Pacific basin.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Distributions and perturbations of the marine dissolved cobalt cycle in a changing ocean

Chmiel¹

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Cobalt is a necessary nutrient for many marine phytoplankton, but its hybrid-type nature results in small marine inventories that make it one of the scarcest bioactive trace metals in the oceans. This study examines the marine dissolved cobalt cycle in two regions: the Pacific Ocean and Antarctic coastal seas. In the North Pacific, elevated cobalt stoichiometries among phytoplankton were linked to nitrogen, iron and phosphate stress protein biomarkers at the boundaries of oceanographic provinces and upwelling zones, providing insight into the flexibility of cobalt stoichiometry. In both regions, perturbations to the marine cobalt cycle were either predicted or observed; in the equatorial Pacific, the dissolved cobalt inventory was predicted to increase by up to 28% due to the expansion of oxygen minimum zones in a warmer ocean, while in the Antarctic, melting ice shelves have the potential to shift the nutrient regime from iron limitation towards zinc and vitamin B12 limitation, resulting in higher cobalt demand and a lower dissolved cobalt inventory. When the global cobalt cycle was estimated throughout four of Earth’s systems (the lithosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere and the anthroposphere – the human environment), it was determined that the scale of the cobalt flux through the anthroposphere is only one order of magnitude lower than the inventory of the entire hydrosphere (10(9) mol Co yr-1 and 10(10) mol Co, respectively), revealing a vulnerability to anthropogenic perturbation of the marine cobalt inventory through human mining, use and disposal of cobalt if appropriate pollution abatement, disposal and recycling infrastructure is not established. In light of observed and predicted changes to cobalt biogeochemistry, this research suggests that the marine cobalt cycle is particularly vulnerable to anthropogenic perturbation from both global climate change and pollution due to its low ocean inventory and interconnection to other nutrient biogeochemical cycles.

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The economic feasibility of deep-sea mining

Cited by 7 publications

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Major processes of the dissolved cobalt cycle in the North and equatorial Pacific Ocean

Major processes of the dissolved cobalt cycle in the North and equatorial Pacific Ocean

Major processes of the dissolved cobalt cycle in the North and equatorial Pacific Ocean

Distributions and perturbations of the marine dissolved cobalt cycle in a changing ocean

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