3
Chapter 1
Study Summary
Yves Fouquet and Denis Lacroix
Y. Fouquet, D. Lacroix (eds.), Deep Marine Mineral Resources,
DOI 10.1007/978-94-017-8563-1_1, © Éditions Quæ 2014
Y. Fouquet ()
Centre Bretagne, Laboratoire Géochimie Métallogénie, Ifremer,
CS 10070, 29280, Plouzané, France
e-mail: yves.fouquet@ifremer.fr
D. Lacroix
Station de Sète, Ifremer, avenue Jean Monnet,
CS 30171, 34203, Sète cedex, France
e-mail: denis.lacroix@ifremer.fr
Challenges
Today humanity crucially needs to discover new natural resources, due to world
population growth and high economic demand from the major emerging countries
(China, India…). Just like energy resources, mineral resources constitute one of the
key elements of the development of industrial economies. Due to soaring prices
of raw materials and metals, together with the need to diversify supply sources,
new deposits are being sought both on land and at sea. The ocean covers 71 % of
the Earth’s surface (including 60 % over 2,000 m deep), yet this vast area remains
poorly known. Its wealth could become vital for global needs in terms of energy and
raw materials. For a few years now, supply tensions have no longer only concerned
base metals (copper, zinc, lead…), but also rare metals (rare earths, indium, platinum group metals (PGMs), gallium…) sometimes referred to as critical or strategic
metals due to their expanding use in new technologies (electronics, military applications, clean energies…).
Scientific deep-sea exploration over the past 30 years has identified several geological and geochemical processes resulting in metal accumulation (polymetallic
nodules, cobalt-rich crusts and hydrothermal sulphides) and the genesis of original
potential energy resources (methane hydrates, hydrogen). These discoveries open
up new prospects for exploration and identification of ocean mineral and energy resources. These potential resources are related to active submarine processes, which
have no land-based equivalent on the continental crust.
For the past few years, the mining industry has been taking an interest in submarine hydrothermal mineral deposits. Exploration approvals have been granted for
Chapter 1
Study Summary
Yves Fouquet and Denis Lacroix
Y. Fouquet, D. Lacroix (eds.), Deep Marine Mineral Resources,
DOI 10.1007/978-94-017-8563-1_1, © Éditions Quæ 2014
Y. Fouquet ()
Centre Bretagne, Laboratoire Géochimie Métallogénie, Ifremer,
CS 10070, 29280, Plouzané, France
e-mail: yves.fouquet@ifremer.fr
D. Lacroix
Station de Sète, Ifremer, avenue Jean Monnet,
CS 30171, 34203, Sète cedex, France
e-mail: denis.lacroix@ifremer.fr
Challenges
Today humanity crucially needs to discover new natural resources, due to world
population growth and high economic demand from the major emerging countries
(China, India…). Just like energy resources, mineral resources constitute one of the
key elements of the development of industrial economies. Due to soaring prices
of raw materials and metals, together with the need to diversify supply sources,
new deposits are being sought both on land and at sea. The ocean covers 71 % of
the Earth’s surface (including 60 % over 2,000 m deep), yet this vast area remains
poorly known. Its wealth could become vital for global needs in terms of energy and
raw materials. For a few years now, supply tensions have no longer only concerned
base metals (copper, zinc, lead…), but also rare metals (rare earths, indium, platinum group metals (PGMs), gallium…) sometimes referred to as critical or strategic
metals due to their expanding use in new technologies (electronics, military applications, clean energies…).
Scientific deep-sea exploration over the past 30 years has identified several geological and geochemical processes resulting in metal accumulation (polymetallic
nodules, cobalt-rich crusts and hydrothermal sulphides) and the genesis of original
potential energy resources (methane hydrates, hydrogen). These discoveries open
up new prospects for exploration and identification of ocean mineral and energy resources. These potential resources are related to active submarine processes, which
have no land-based equivalent on the continental crust.
For the past few years, the mining industry has been taking an interest in submarine hydrothermal mineral deposits. Exploration approvals have been granted for