Abstract
Polymetallic manganese nodules (PMN), cobalt-rich manganese crusts (CRC) and seafloor massive sulfides (SMS) have been identified as important resources of economically valuable metals and critical raw materials. The currently proposed mineral processing operations are based on metallurgical approaches applied for land resources. Thus far, significant endeavors have been carried out to describe the extraction of metals from PMN; however, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, it lacks a thorough review on recent developments in processing of CRC and SMS. This paper begins with an overview of each marine mineral. It is followed by a systematic review of common methods used for extraction of metals from marine mineral deposits. In this review, we update the information published so far in peer-reviewed and technical literature, and briefly provide the future perspectives for processing of marine mineral deposits.
Highlights
More similarities may be seen with the volcanogenic massive sulfides (VMS)
Many critical raw materials (CRM) from global crusts and nodule deposits will most likely be relevant as a supplement to land-based mining, rather than a substitute
A huge effort has been made for exploitation and extraction of polymetallic nodules; for other types of marine minerals both mining and processing operations are at very low levels of readiness
Summary
Polymetallic manganese nodules (PMN), cobalt-rich manganese crusts (CRC) and seafloor massive sulfides (SMS) have been identified as important resources of economically valuable metals and critical raw materials. The discovery of deep-sea concretions, later known as polymetallic nodules (PMN), in the 1870s, during the HMS Challenger expedition [1], opened a perspective for new, alternative-to-terrestrial, rich resources of many valuable metals (Cu, Ni, Co, Mn, Ag, REE, etc.). Three main types of marine mineral deposits have been discovered: polymetallic manganese nodules (PMN), cobalt-rich manganese crusts (CRC) and seafloor massive sulfides (SMS). These mineral deposits have gained increasing attention due to the significant content of economically valuable metals and critical raw materials (CRM) [2].
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