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1 Study Summary
Crusts
The exploitation of crusts will not come to fruition before 2030 (uncertain exploitability, technological availabilities…) despite their high potential. However, the
richest areas are in the EEZ of Polynesia. Work on the seabed is required to determine areas of interest, with continuity favourable to exploitation.
Polymetallic Nodules
The exploitation of polymetallic nodules appears possible in technical terms, hypothetical in economic terms and of little relevance in national terms given the existing land-based resources. Nevertheless, there is now renewed interest in nodules
and crusts due to the presence of rare metals (rare earths, molybdenum, tellurium,
vanadium, zirconium, thallium…) which were not taken into account in the past.
Several countries have conducted systematic analyses of their collections in order to
determine the samples and areas with the highest rare metal contents.
Natural Hydrogen
In the current state of knowledge, exploitation of natural hydrogen cannot be considered until the very long term. This is a recent discovery made by Ifremer on hydrothermal systems associated with mantle rock. Scientific knowledge of processes
needs to be improved and flows quantified.
This prospective analysis conducted in collaboration with all the public and private partners involved, as well as the proposals of the French Blue Book “A National
Strategy for the Sea and Oceans”, supported by those of the European Commission,
clearly show the changes in global raw materials markets. Over and above the price
surge of many metals over the past years (zinc, copper…), European States must
take into consideration their growing dependence on imports of metal minerals and
so-called “high-tech” (also known as rare or strategic) metals such as cobalt, platinum, rare earth metals, gallium, germanium, indium and titanium.
However, at the current growth rate, global demand for these types of materials
is set to double over the coming 5 years. Consequently, demand for certain rare or
strategic metals will rise sharply, notably in connection with the evolution of environmental technologies, telecommunications and defence markets, with probable
bottlenecks in supply, related to the strategies of the countries where these resources
are found (China, South Africa, Brazil, Russia…).
Furthermore, in addition to exploration to locate new land-based deposits, we
will need to look increasingly to the sea to meet global demand for raw materials.
New perspectives are opened up by potential subsea mineral resources: hydrothermal sulphides, nodules and cobalt- and manganese-rich crusts. These perspectives
lead the way to new scope for exploration and exploitation, which in some cases has
already begun, of deep-sea mineral resources.
1 Study Summary
Crusts
The exploitation of crusts will not come to fruition before 2030 (uncertain exploitability, technological availabilities…) despite their high potential. However, the
richest areas are in the EEZ of Polynesia. Work on the seabed is required to determine areas of interest, with continuity favourable to exploitation.
Polymetallic Nodules
The exploitation of polymetallic nodules appears possible in technical terms, hypothetical in economic terms and of little relevance in national terms given the existing land-based resources. Nevertheless, there is now renewed interest in nodules
and crusts due to the presence of rare metals (rare earths, molybdenum, tellurium,
vanadium, zirconium, thallium…) which were not taken into account in the past.
Several countries have conducted systematic analyses of their collections in order to
determine the samples and areas with the highest rare metal contents.
Natural Hydrogen
In the current state of knowledge, exploitation of natural hydrogen cannot be considered until the very long term. This is a recent discovery made by Ifremer on hydrothermal systems associated with mantle rock. Scientific knowledge of processes
needs to be improved and flows quantified.
This prospective analysis conducted in collaboration with all the public and private partners involved, as well as the proposals of the French Blue Book “A National
Strategy for the Sea and Oceans”, supported by those of the European Commission,
clearly show the changes in global raw materials markets. Over and above the price
surge of many metals over the past years (zinc, copper…), European States must
take into consideration their growing dependence on imports of metal minerals and
so-called “high-tech” (also known as rare or strategic) metals such as cobalt, platinum, rare earth metals, gallium, germanium, indium and titanium.
However, at the current growth rate, global demand for these types of materials
is set to double over the coming 5 years. Consequently, demand for certain rare or
strategic metals will rise sharply, notably in connection with the evolution of environmental technologies, telecommunications and defence markets, with probable
bottlenecks in supply, related to the strategies of the countries where these resources
are found (China, South Africa, Brazil, Russia…).
Furthermore, in addition to exploration to locate new land-based deposits, we
will need to look increasingly to the sea to meet global demand for raw materials.
New perspectives are opened up by potential subsea mineral resources: hydrothermal sulphides, nodules and cobalt- and manganese-rich crusts. These perspectives
lead the way to new scope for exploration and exploitation, which in some cases has
already begun, of deep-sea mineral resources.