rare metals and rare-earth elements in deep-ocean mineral

Rare Metals and Rare-Earth Elements inDeep-Ocean Mineral Deposits

James R. HeinU.S. Geological Survey, Santa Cruz, CA, USA

SPC/SOPAC-ISA International Workshop on Environmental Needs for Deep Seabed Minerals

Nadi, Fiji, 29 November-2 December 2011

WOW, this month we reached 7,000,000,000

People!

2.5 billion live in countries with boomingeconomies and a rapidly growing

middle class

Where will the resources come from to sustain that growth, and to support green and emerging technologies?

Science v. 327 March 26, 2010

Physics Today May, 2010 David Kramer

Road Bump? President Obama’s efforts to promote electric-car production may be stymied by getting access to rare-earth elements

Science v. 329 July 23, 2010

From EE Times: Rare earth supply chain: Industry’s common cause by Colin Johnson

Variety of REEs in hybrid cars

Two ton Nd-Fe-B magnets include 255 - 320 kg of

neodymium

Dysprosium, Praseodymium, &Samarium

also contain significant cobalt and rhenium

Wind Turbines

Other rare-earth elements include:

~1.5 Billion Cell Phones sold in 2010

60 kg Tantalum510 kg Platinum

22.5 tons Palladium51.0 tons Gold525 tons Silver24,000 tons Copper

Plus many others e.g.REEs

25% of a Cell Phone is Metal

There will be only 20 years supply of tantalum if the global per capita use rises to 50% of the current U.S. per capita use; 40 years for copper

The U.S. imports >90% of 26 strategic and critical metals

China is the leading producer of 28 metals essential for high-tech and green-tech applications

The Earth’s surface is 71% water covered

• Dry land 29%• Ocean 71%

Pacific Ocean area is greater than the entire Earth’s land area

Potential Deep-Ocean Metal Resources

Emerging & Next Generation Technologies

Tellurium Photovoltaic solar cells; computer chips; thermal cooling devices

Cobalt Hybrid & electric car batteries, storage of solar energy, magnetic recording media, high-T super-alloys, supermagnets, cell phones

Bismuth Liquid Pb-Bi coolant for nuclear reactors; Bi-metal polymer bullets, high-T superconduct, computer chips

Tungsten Negative thermal expansion devices, high-T superalloys, X-ray photo imaging

Niobium High-T superalloys, next generation capacitors, superconducting resonators

Platinum Hydrogen fuel cells, chemical sensors, cancer drugs, flat-panel displays, electronics

64,000 km of spreading centers & intercontinental rifts25,000 km of volcanic arcs & back-arc-basin spreading centers

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

Cu Zn

wei

ght %

Solwara 1

Sediment-hosted

VMS

Olympic dam

Porphyry copper

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

Au Ag

ppm

Mean composition of NautilusSolwara 1 marine mine compared to all major types of land-based copper deposits

Zn = 23%Pb = 10%Ba= 10%Fe = 7%Sb = 1320Cd = 1120 ppmHg = 55 ppmAg = 358 ppmAu = 19 ppm

SphaleriteGalenaBariteChalcopyriteAnglesite

Global distribution of manganese nodules

Global Nodules

0.0

10.0

20.0

30.0

40.0

Mn Fe

Clarion Clipperton Zone

Peru Basin

Indian Ocean

Cook Islands

0

5000

10000

15000

Ni Cu

Wt %

Wt %

Global Nodules Continued pp

m

Crusts in the Global OceanCrusts in the Global Ocean

0

5

10

15

20

25

Mn Fe

Pacific Prime

S. Pacific

Indian

Atlantic

0

0.5

1

P

Wt %

Wt %

Crusts in the Global Ocean Continued

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

7000

Co Ni Pb Ce Cu Zr Zn Mo

Pacific Prime

S. Pacific

Indian

Atlanticppm

Global Trace Metal Maxima

Mean Co = 0.67%Mean Ce = 0.13%

Means are forCentral Pacific Prime Crust Zone

The largest impediment to exploration for Fe-Mn crusts is the real-time measurement of crust thicknesses with adeep-towed instrument

The largest physical impediment to ore recovery isseparation of Fe-Mn crusts from substrate rock that occurs on an uneven and rough seabed

Challenges to Fe-Mn Crust Mining

Ferromanganese crusts provide the richest source of tellurium (Te) known (Hein et al., 2003)

“Finding enough Te for CdTe is the largest barrier to the multi-terawatt use of CdTefor solar-cell electricity. It is widely regarded as the lowest cost photovoltaic technology with the greatest potential. This is important to the US and the world” (Ken Zweibel, National Renewable Energy Laboratory)

United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS; 1982)to adequately represent the interests of developing nations in portioning out mining rights (Common Heritage of Mankind)

Areas beyond national jurisdictions (ISA)

EEZ (200 nauticalmiles)

U.S. EEZ

Compact of FreelyAssociated Nations with U.S.

Who Owns Deep-Ocean Mineral Deposits?

ISA Headquarters, Kingston Jamaica

161 Member States Plus the EU

Licenses for Marine Minerals Exploration Total 1,450,000 km2

Yellow shows the location of the only mining license

Total lease area equivalent to 3.4 Californias

Pacific Prime Crust Zone

Clarion-Clipperton Zone Nodules

California Margin Crusts

Peru Basin Nodules

Central Indian Basin Nodules

South Pacific Crusts

Indian Crusts

Atlantic Crusts

Terrestrial Mine

Comparisons of CCZ and PCZ with global land-based reserves & REE deposits

PCZ

From Hein and Koschinsky, 2012

In place metal tonnages (x 106 metric tons)

aUSGS 2010 reserve base & 2011 reserves (reserve base includes those resources that arecurrently economic (reserves), marginally economic, and subeconomic

Nodule tonnage used is 21,100 million dry tons and crust tonnage used is 7,533 milliondry tons (from Hein and Koschinsky, 2012)

10 Year Gold & Silver 19 Year Platinum Price Graphs (kitco.com)

From USGS REE fact sheet

Global Production of REEs

Mine Site is 18 km long and 2-3 km wide; note waste-rock dumps

Comparison of land-based carbonatite ores and marine ferromanganese deposits

PCZ: Pacific Crust ZoneCCZ: Clarion-Clipperton nodule zone

0.1

1

10

100

1000

0.1 1 10

Grade (Wt % TREO)

Mountain Pass,CaBayan Obo,ChinaPCZ, Fe-Mn

CCZ, Nodules

Tonn

age

X10

8To

nnag

e X

108

0.00.51.01.52.02.5

3.0

3.5

4.0

4.5

5.0

MoutnainPass, CA

BayanObo,China

PCZ,Crusts

CCZ,Nodules

0.45

4.8

2.3 2.1Tons

TR

EO

X10

7To

ns T

RE

OX

107

MountainPass

MountainPass

Bayan Obo,China

Bayan Obo,China

PCZ,CrustsPCZ,

CrustsCCZ,

NodulesCCZ,

Nodules

3.5

Light versus Heavy REEBayan Obo & Mountain Pass average <1% HREE

PCZ averages 6.3% HREECCZ averages 10% HREE

From C. Hocquard, 2010

In US$/kgIn US$/kg

Price for 10 Rare Earth Elements As of May 7, 2010

Europium

Terbium

Dysprosium

Neodymium

Praseodymium

Yttrium

Samarium

Gadolinium

Lanthanum

Cerium

Land-based: REE predominantly primary ore

PCZ: Byproduct of Co and Ni mining

CCZ: Byproduct of Ni and Cu mining

Primary Ore Versus Byproduct Production

Thorium ConcentrationsBayan Obo and Mountain Pass contain 100s ppm Th

PCZ averages 11 ppm Th

CCZ averages 14 ppm Th

Extractive Metallurgy

Land-based ores require extensive processing, e.g., 1000 steps to isolate ytterbium metal

Marine FeO(OH) and MnO2 can be dissolved with simple HCl leachputting all sorbed REEs into solution

July 9, 2011

July 3, 2011

Is there a resource Potential?

Highly unlikely!

Social and environmental advantages for recovery of deep-ocean minerals

Land-based mines leave a substantial footprint,impacted waterways, carbon emissions from heavy machinery, and millions to tons of waste rock

Marine-based mine sites have no roads, surface ore-transport systems, buildings, or other infrastructure

Social and environmental advantages for recovery of deep-ocean minerals

No overburden to remove, which on land can be 75% of material moved

Less ore needed to provide the same amount of metal

Three or more metals can be obtained at one site

No indigenous or native populations to disrupt

Ecosystems with generally low population densities and low diversity

Economic advantages to companies

Lower capital start-up costs

Moveable mining platform

Smaller deposits can be mined

High metal grades

ObrigadoThank You