Russia will begin preparations for pilot industrial extraction of ferromanganese ores at the bottom of the World Ocean after completing geological exploration work. This was announced by the head of Rosnedra, Evgeny Petrov, during the panel discussion “Geology. Revival of a Legend: Results and Prospects”, which was held on Ecology Day as part of the international exhibition and forum “Russia” at VDNKh.
Petrov noted that in 30-50 years, the World Ocean will become one of the main sources of mineral raw materials on the planet. “If we take as an example the ferromanganese nodules in the Pacific Ocean, on which Russia operates, they have a high concentration of the most important metals for the domestic economy,” Petrov explained.
“Why has active development of the ocean floor begun today? The trend is set by countries that do not have their own broad resource base. One of the leading leaders is Japan, this country is limited in area, but, given the growth of technology and economic development, it needs access to numerous types of mineral raw materials. European countries are also actively present in this arena. For example, Belgium and Norway have made significant progress; in the framework of work on the ocean floor, they are, in fact, already moving to pilot production. In addition, China can definitely be considered a major leader, having made a big breakthrough in the construction of mining vessels, as well as in the development of deep-sea equipment,” the head of Rosnedra said. As for Russia, the Soviet Union was once the initiator of the project to explore mineral raw materials on the ocean floor, he noted. “Russia currently has a huge reserve, in particular, in working on those areas in the World Ocean where we are carrying out exploration work. Without embellishment, we can say that these are the most studied areas of the World Ocean, where production can soon begin. Today, Russia continues to work on geological exploration of the areas. This is systematic work, it is carried out by a large team of domestic institutes,” Petrov said.
“Under one of the contracts – for ferromanganese ores – in the next 5-7 years we will move to the stage of pilot industrial production. The necessary equipment is already being developed together with the Ministry of Industry and Trade. Russia has accumulated colossal experience in creating deep-sea equipment, but there are a number of components that still need to be designed,” the head of Rosnedra noted.
“I would like to emphasize once again that in our lifetime we will see how the World Ocean will become one of the key sources of mineral resources. And this needs to be addressed. Russia, as a raw materials and mining country with the necessary experience and competencies, must not miss the moment and be present in this market, be competitive,” he emphasized. As reported, Russia has three contracts for work on the bottom of the World Ocean. This is a contract for the exploration of ferromanganese nodules (FMN, Pacific Ocean), a contract for the exploration of deep-sea polymetallic sulfides (DPS, Atlantic Ocean), and a contract for the exploration of cobalt-rich ferromanganese crusts (CMC, Pacific Ocean). The Russian Ministry of Natural Resources and the Federal Agency for Subsoil Use are conducting exploration work in the International Seabed Area of the World Ocean under the obligations of the Russian Federation under contracts with the International Seabed Authority (ISBA).