Deep Sea Minerals - Vol 3 - Cobalt-rich Ferromanganese Crusts

• metal grade analysis can be estimated on board the explo- ration vessel and later verified at land-based laboratories; • carrying out geotechnical studies to assess the physical, chemical, and mechanical properties of the crusts and their environment will feed into both the environmental baseline studies as well as the engineering design studies for mining technology development, in particular the design of a cutter head capable of recovering the crust without acquiring any of the substrate rock;

• calculating the size and grade of the resource; • carrying out environmental baseline studies; and

• measuring in situ the detailed distribution of crust thick- nesses. While this technology is not yet developed, it may involv­e either a multi-spectral seismic instrument or a gamma- radiation detector.

Figure 15 Multibeam bathymetry of the Brothers seamounts, South West Pacific (source NIWA).

COBALT-RICH FERROMANGANESE CRUSTS 44