The Atlantis II Deep Project in the Red Sea as a Source of Technology for the Development of Marine Polymetallic Sulphides

Abstract

Base and noble metals (Zn, Cu, Ag, Au, etc.) in hydrothermal sediments of the Atlantis II Deep in the Central Red Sea at waterdepths of more than 2000 m have caused considerable scientific attention and technical development during the last fifteen years. In 1976, the Saudi Sudanese Red Sea Commission awarded a contract to Preussag AG, a mining and engineering company in Hannover, West-Germany, to develop methods of ocean mining and beneficiation which would protect the ocean environment and to assess the economics of the project. Some of the results of research, development and analysis, applicable directly or indirectly to the polymetallic sulphides of the East Pacific, are: - ocean mining and offshore processing are technically feasible with adaptation of known technologies to the marine and deep sea environment, - economics of deep ocean mining depend on quantity and grade of resources and prices of metals and appear competitive compared with many conventional onshore mining projects, - ocean mining can be performed in an environmentally acceptable manner. Ocean mining is yet a novel Industry which would require appropriate legal protection, large-scale know-how exercises and about 10 years of further development to level out the learning curve to international industrial standards.