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Marine minerals' role in future holistic mineral resource management
Abstract
Deep marine mineral deposits are mineral deposits that have been formed outside the continental slope. Currently three main types of deposits are generally recognized: polymetallic manganese nodules, massive seafloor sulfides and cobalt-rich crusts. The authors argue that marine mineral resource management must be holistic. Holistic marine mineral management requires a clear understanding of the objectives to be achieved through mining and to assess and ensure a proper balance between costs, risks, potential gains and losses. For decades there have been substantial uncertainties regarding the short- and long-term impact of deep-sea mining on international society and the economy and, more recently, environmental issues have become central to the debate over mining the deep seabed. If deep-sea mining is to play a constructive role in the green transition towards more environmentally robust energy production and e-mobility, more ambitious interdisciplinary research is needed to provide the knowledge needed to devise a holistic approach to management of marine minerals. This includes completing thorough baseline studies in conjunction with geological exploration and devising new means of handling financial and technological uncertainties when making investment decisions and when developing regulatory frameworks.
... To address these challenges, Ellefmo et al. (2022) advocate a broad perspective on deep-sea mining and the overall management of mineral resources and the environment. They point out the The Green Stone Ageintroduction need for a holistic perspective where the mineral deposits on the ocean floor may play a future role in meeting the demand for metals and minerals to support the transition towards greener energy production and e-mobility. ...
... Along with an overview of present knowledge of marine ore deposits and mineral resource potential assessments, Ellefmo et al. (2022) emphasize the role of ecosystem knowledge in environmental and resource management. Among the required approaches, Ellefmo et al. (2022) emphasize the need to carry out thorough baseline studies in conjunction with geological exploration. ...
... Along with an overview of present knowledge of marine ore deposits and mineral resource potential assessments, Ellefmo et al. (2022) emphasize the role of ecosystem knowledge in environmental and resource management. Among the required approaches, Ellefmo et al. (2022) emphasize the need to carry out thorough baseline studies in conjunction with geological exploration. Here, we could mention that on behalf of the German government, the Geological Survey of Germany holds two exploration licences issued by the International Seabed Authority. ...
Metals and minerals are essential for improving the quality of our lives, for new green energy technologies, and for a sustainable environment. This book addresses challenges in meeting the future demand for metals and minerals and presents results from ongoing research, surveying, exploration and exploitation of key minerals needed to supply the green and sustainable societies of the future.
... In recent years, the exploration for critical minerals such as manganese nodules, massive seafloor sulphides and cobalt- rich crusts on the seabed has increased. Norway, for instance, has in 2024 opened up its part of its Exclusive Economic Zone up for exploration and development, though a holistic approach will be needed to manage such resource extraction most sustainably (Ellefmo et al., 2023). ...
The 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) collectively represent the global population’s ambition to improve the wellbeing of Earth and its inhabitants by 2030. The ambitious goals require that a dedicated, focused, and integrated effort is taken—now. The geoscientific community is well positioned to positively directly influence many of the SDGs, notably SDGs 7 (Affordable Energy), 11 (Sustainable Cities) and 13 (Climate Action), and may also directly or indirectly contribute to all other SDGs. In this contribution, I systematically review the SDGs in the framework of the broader geosciences. Firstly, I outline the concept of the SDGs and their indicators, before linking them to specific geoscientific disciplines illustrated with case studies. Finally, I present some of the ongoing developments in the geosciences that need to be clearly tied to the global SDG ambitions.
... It inverts two uncollected fields (density, pressure) from five known variables and extends this capability to poorly monitored areas like the Arctic and deep sea (Ura, 2013;Charrassin et al., 2008). By facilitating future change predictions, MDRF-Net supports proactive decision-making and resource management (Ellefmo et al., 2023), with its swift forecasting prowess making it a powerful tool for anticipating ocean dynamics. ...
Spatiotemporal projections in marine science are essential for understanding ocean systems and their impact on Earth's climate. However, existing AI-based and statistics-based inversion methods face challenges in leveraging ocean data, generating continuous outputs, and incorporating physical constraints. We propose the Marine Dynamic Reconstruction and Forecast Neural Networks (MDRF-Net), which integrates marine physical mechanisms and observed data to reconstruct and forecast continuous ocean temperature-salinity and dynamic fields. MDRF-Net leverages statistical theories and techniques, incorporating parallel neural network sharing initial layer, two-step training strategy, and ensemble methodology, facilitating in exploring challenging marine areas like the Arctic zone. We have theoretically justified the efficacy of our ensemble method and the rationality of it by providing an upper bound on its generalization error.The effectiveness of MDRF-Net's is validated through a comprehensive simulation study, which highlights its capability to reliably estimate unknown parameters. Comparison with other inversion methods and reanalysis data are also conducted, and the global test error is 0.455{\deg}C for temperature and 0.0714psu for salinity. Overall, MDRF-Net effectively learns the ocean dynamics system using physical mechanisms and statistical insights, contributing to a deeper understanding of marine systems and their impact on the environment and human use of the ocean.
... [4][5][6][7] The chosen location is the Norwegian extended continental shelf, where the Norwegian Government has initiated a regional environmental impact assessment as part of an opening process for potential exploration and mining activities. 8 ...
In this paper, model‐based systems engineering (MBSE) and discrete event simulation (DES) are combined to assess the performance of an offshore production system at an early stage. Various systems engineering tools are applied to an industrial case concerning the retrieval of deep‐sea minerals, and a simulation engine is developed to calculate the annual production output. A mean production of 1 Million tonnes of ore per year is estimated for an operation in the Norwegian Sea using Monte Carlo simulation. Depending on the limiting design wave height of the marine operations, the estimated production output ranges from 280,000 tonnes to 1.8 Million tonnes per year. The constrained parameter of the production system is particularly the wave height operational limit of the ship‐to‐ship transfer operation. We present the learning outcome from applying MBSE and DES to this case and discuss important aspects for improved performance.
This article examines 16 environmental conflicts across the Arctic that demonstrate resistance to both climate and green extractive colonialisms. Resistance movements counter green-labelled developments, such as a 350 km road project in Ambler (Alaska) needed for copper extraction; large-scale wind power industries on Sámi territories; palladium and platinum mega-projects on Dolgan, Evenks, and Sámi lands in the Russian North; as well as the biggest natural gas project in the world on the Yamalo-Nenets peninsula, promoted as "the cleanest" of all fossil fuels. The article contributes to the field of political ecology by arguing that past colonial ties mediated by fossil fuels are inextricably linked to the increase of green extractivism and climate colonialism in the Arctic, both of which are embedded in socio-ecological crises that deepen colonial relations. In most places these crises drive new extractivisms, but in others, they function as possible barriers, increasing risks and costs of extraction while not reducing the will to pursue extractivist endeavors.
Purpose: This study investigates the moderating role of Monitoring Operations of Institutional Policy Implementation in Uganda's Mineral Resources Management. Methodology: A cross-sectional design has been used in this study to collect data. In order to find the patterns across variables, this strategy entails data gathering at a specific point in time. The study population consists of 39 institutions and 2 ministries; that is Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development and National Environmental Management Authority-(NEMA) and 37 district local governments with mining operations. Districts were chosen in this study based on stratified random selection technique. Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources and NEMA were picked for this study based on the strata. To guarantee that each group of the institutions have an equitable opportunity to engage in the study, a stratified random sampling technique has been adapted by the study. Findings: The results in this study rejects the null hypothesis and accepts alternative hypothesis that Monitoring Operation is a significant moderating effect on Institutional Policy Implementation in Mineral Resource Management. This result implies that at different levels of Monitoring Operations, the effect of Institutional Policy Implementation varies significantly. Particularly, when managers do proper Monitoring Operations, it enhances the effect of Institutional Policy Implementation on Mineral Resource Management. Recommendations: The policy implication in this study is that policymakers should enhance Monitoring and Accountability Mechanisms through regular audits and inspections, ensuring compliance with regulations and ethical mining practices. Thus; investing in educational initiatives and awareness programs will raise public awareness of the benefits of sustainable mining practices, empowering local communities to actively engage in decision-making to protect the natural resources.
The present special publication addresses opportunities and challenges in meeting the demand for essential and critical metals and minerals needed to supply the green and sustainable societies of the future. The notion of criticality in different countries is discussed and examples of ongoing national and cross-country research and mapping programs are presented. In addition to the resource/reserve and technical-economic aspects, the social and environmental dimensions are also elaborated in some of the contributions, as holistic approaches to the exploration and exploitation of critical minerals and materials are needed to fulfill the green transition and goals for the Green Stone Age.
Scenarios for sustainable transformation of the global economy to near zero greenhouse gas emissions in 2050 in line with the Paris Agreement and the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development rely strongly on renewable energy. Offshore wind shows potential to become a globally significant supplier of electricity in these scenarios. Floating solar energy and direct ocean energy sources, such as wave, tidal and ocean thermal energy, may also contribute significantly in a range of locations, but require more policy support and understanding of potential environmental impacts in order to become significant in the transition to a sustainable global energy system.
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.
Understanding the impacts of extractive industries on sustainable development requires analyzing them as part of dynamic social-ecological-technological systems. Building on insights from studies of social-ecological systems and socio-technical systems, as well as fieldwork on the impacts of mining in the Nordic Arctic, this article presents an analytical framework for co-production of knowledge about the role of industrial or infrastructure projects for regional development. We use this framework to analyze Swedish mining policy, assessment guidelines, and environmental impact assessments for three mining projects in Arctic Sweden. We conclude that Swedish mining policy and guidelines for impact assessments neglect key aspects of social-ecological-technological systems, including the impacts of climate change, and treat many social aspects of sustainable development in a cursory manner. We suggest that more systematic analysis of the dynamics of social-ecological-technological systems would facilitate more transparent decision making and help identify the potential role of proposed mining projects in pathways towards sustainable development in northern regions.
Deep-seabed polymetallic nodule mining can have multiple adverse effects on benthic communities, such as permanent loss of habitat by removal of nodules and habitat modification of sediments. One tool to manage biodiversity risks is the mitigation hierarchy, including avoidance, minimization of impacts, rehabilitation and/or restoration, and offset. We initiated long-term restoration experiments at sites in polymetallic nodule exploration contract areas in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone that were (i) cleared of nodules by a preprototype mining vehicle, (ii) disturbed by dredge or sledge, (iii) undisturbed, and (iv) naturally devoid of nodules. To accommodate for habitat loss, we deployed >2000 artificial ceramic nodules to study the possible effect of substrate provision on the recovery of biota and its impact on sediment biogeochemistry. Seventy-five nodules were recovered after eight weeks and had not been colonized by any sessile epifauna. All other nodules will remain on the seafloor for several years before recovery. Furthermore, to account for habitat modification of the top sediment layer, sediment in an epibenthic sledge track was loosened by a metal rake to test the feasibility of sediment decompaction to facilitate soft-sediment recovery. Analyses of granulometry and nutrients one month after sediment decompaction revealed that sand fractions are proportionally lower within the decompacted samples, whereas total organic carbon values are higher. Considering the slow natural recovery rates of deep-sea communities, these experiments represent the beginning of a ~30-year study during which we expect to gain insights into the nature and timing of the development of hard-substrate communities and the influence of nodules on the recovery of disturbed sediment communities. Results will help us understand adverse long-term effects of nodule removal, providing an evidence base for setting criteria for the definition of “serious harm” to the environment. Furthermore, accompanying research is needed to define a robust ecosystem baseline in order to effectively identify restoration success. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2022;18:682–696. © 2021 The Authors. Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Society of Environmental Toxicology & Chemistry (SETAC).
KEY POINTS
Adverse effects on benthic communities as expected from deep-seabed polymetallic nodule mining call for the application of the mitigation hierarchy—including restoration measures once feasibility and positive effects have been proven. We initiated long-term restoration experiments at sites in polymetallic nodule exploration contract areas in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone that were (i) cleared of nodules by a preprototype mining vehicle, (ii) disturbed by dredge or sledge, (iii) undisturbed, and (iv) naturally devoid of nodules. We deployed >2000 artificial ceramic nodules to study the possible effect of substrate provision on recovery of biota and its impact on sediment biogeochemistry, and loosened sediment with a metal rake to test the feasibility of sediment decompaction to facilitate soft-sediment recovery. Due to expected slow recovery rates and the need for detailed characterization of baseline conditions, we expect to gain conclusive knowledge on long-term adverse effects of nodule removal and on the effectiveness of restoration measures in the next 30 years.
What is interdisciplinary research? Why is it vital to the advancement of the field of hazards and disaster research? What theory, methods, and approaches are fundamental to interdisciplinary research projects and their applications? This article addresses these and other pressing questions by taking stock of recent advancements in interdisciplinary studies of hazards and disasters. It also introduces the special issue of Risk Analysis, which includes this introductory article and 25 original perspectives papers meant to highlight new trends and applications in the field. The papers were written following two National Science Foundation‐supported workshops that were organized in response to the growing interest in interdisciplinary hazards and disaster research, the increasing number of interdisciplinary funding opportunities and collaborations in the field, and the need for more rigorous guidance for interdisciplinary researchers and research teams. This introductory article and the special collection are organized around the cross‐cutting themes of theory, methods, approaches, interdisciplinary research projects, and applications to advance interdisciplinarity in hazards and disaster research.
Increasing demand for metals used in clean energy technologies, including electric vehicles, has led to an increased demand in certain metals such as Ni, Co, and Mn. This demand has in turn led to an expanding interest in deep-seabed mining (DSM) of polymetallic nodule deposits that contain these exact metals. The main concerns about DSM relate to the incomplete information available about the environmental risks associated with seabed mineral extraction. Key uncertainties need to be systematically addressed to refine environmental impact predictions and establish effective mitigation measures. Adaptive management is an iterative process for reducing the uncertainty that can be applied by both mining companies and regulatory bodies. This Special Series paper reviews the key opportunities and challenges to operationalizing adaptive management in DSM projects and highlights the need for a framework to move from theory to practice. The discussion proposes a systems approach to adaptive management, which could help to guide the environmental management of deep-sea mineral extraction. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2022;18:674–681. © 2021 SETAC
KEY POINTS
Adaptive management is a suitable approach to addressing residual uncertainty for the effective environmental management of deep-seabed mining projects. Active adaptive management can be implemented in environmental management and monitoring plans to prioritize “learning by doing” and avoid “trial and error.” The paper introduces a conceptual framework for Systemic Adaptive Management (SAM), a systems approach to the implementation of adaptive management in deep-seabed mining projects. Participatory modeling is highlighted as a method to operationalize SAM whereby stakeholders are engaged to build complex system models to support decision making under uncertainty.
In recent years, the "Belt and Road Initiative" (BRI) promoted by the Chinese government has attracted a significant amount of international trade and transnational investment and other businesses. Accordingly, country risk assessment should be granted priority in the decision-making process for these projects. Based on a comprehensive consideration of important relevant countries and the availability of data of countries along the BRI, this paper uses data from 49 countries along the BRI between 2014-2019 and establishes a national risk-evaluation system for the BRI from four dimensions (i.e., political, economic, social, and investment). This paper adopts the Grey correlation analysis based on the Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (Grey-TOPSIS) method to identify and evaluate the risk of countries along the BRI. Geographic Information System (GIS) maps are drawn according to the criteria for classifying the five risk levels to show the rank of the four aspects of risk scores along the BRI in 2019 and the rank of overall country risk scores during the period 2014-2019. The proposed conclusion and policy implications can help the Chinese government and companies to make informed decisions and minimize potential risks.
Metal mining provides the elements required for the provision of energy, communication, transport and more. The increasing uptake of green technology, such as electric vehicles and renewable energy, will also further increase metal demand. However, the production lifespan of an average mine is far shorter than the timescales of mineral deposit formation, suggesting that metal mining is unsustainable on human timescales. In addition, some research suggests that known primary metal supplies will be exhausted within about 50 years. Here we present an analysis of global metal reserves that suggests that primary metal supplies will not run out on this timescale. Instead, we find that global reserves for most metals have not significantly decreased relative to production over time. This is the result of the replenishment of exhausted reserves by the further delineation of known orebodies as mineral exploration progresses. We suggest that environmental, social, and governance factors are likely to be the main source of risk in metal and mineral supply over the coming decades, more so than direct reserve depletion. This could potentially lead to increases in resource conflict and decreases in the conversion of resources to reserves and production.
Future supplies of rare minerals for global industries with high-tech products may depend on deep-sea mining. However, environmental standards for seafloor integrity and recovery from environmental impacts are missing. We revisited the only midsize deep-sea disturbance and recolonization experiment carried out in 1989 in the Peru
Basin nodule field to compare habitat integrity, remineralization rates, and carbon flow with undisturbed sites. Plough tracks were still visible, indicating sites where sediment was either removed or compacted. Locally, microbial
activity was reduced up to fourfold in the affected areas. Microbial cell numbers were reduced by ~50% in fresh
“tracks” and by <30% in the old tracks. Growth estimates suggest that microbially mediated biogeochemical
functions need over 50 years to return to undisturbed levels. This study contributes to developing environmental
standards for deep-sea mining while addressing limits to maintaining and recovering ecological integrity during
large-scale nodule mining.
Uncertainty is inherent to our knowledge about the state of the world yet often not communicated alongside scientific facts and numbers. In the "posttruth" era where facts are increasingly contested , a common assumption is that communicating uncertainty will reduce public trust. However, a lack of systematic research makes it difficult to evaluate such claims. We conducted five experiments including one preregistered replication with a national sample and one field experiment on the BBC News website (total n = 5,780)-to examine whether communicating epistemic uncertainty about facts across different topics (e.g., global warming, immigration), formats (verbal vs. numeric), and magnitudes (high vs. low) influences public trust. Results show that whereas people do perceive greater uncertainty when it is communicated, we observed only a small decrease in trust in numbers and trustworthiness of the source, and mostly for verbal uncertainty communication. These results could help reassure all communicators of facts and science that they can be more open and transparent about the limits of human knowledge. communication | uncertainty | trust | posttruth | contested
Deep-sea mining (DSM) may become a significant stressor on the marine environment. The DSM industry should demonstrate transparently its commitment to preventing serious harm to the environment by complying with legal requirements, using environmental good practice, and minimizing environmental impacts. Here existing environmental management approaches relevant to DSM that can be used to improve performance are identified and detailed. DSM is still predominantly in the planning stage and will face some unique challenges but there is considerable environmental management experience in existing related industries. International good practice has been suggested for DSM by bodies such as the Pacific Community and the International Marine Minerals Society. The inherent uncertainty in DSM presents challenges, but it can be addressed by collection of environmental information, area-based/spatial management, the precautionary approach and adaptive management. Tools exist for regional and strategic management, which have already begun to be introduced by the International Seabed Authority, for example in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone. Project specific environmental management, through environmental impact assessment, baseline assessment, monitoring, mitigation and environmental management planning, will be critical to identify and reduce potential impacts. In addition, extractive companies’ internal management may be optimised to improve performance by emphasising sustainability at a high level in the company, improving transparency and reporting and introducing environmental management systems. The DSM industry and its regulators have the potential to select and optimize recognised and documented effective practices and adapt them, greatly improving the environmental performance of this new industry.
Environmental concerns were raised from the very onset of discussions concerning the extraction of metalliferous ores from the deep sea, but most studies have targeted the expected impacts on the benthic communities only. The first section of this study compiles possible impacts of deep seabed mining activities on pelagic organisms. Several processes of mining-related activities were identified that can potentially affect the pelagic environment. Some of these processes will assumedly have only minor effects on the pelagic and benthopelagic communities, for example substrate removal and deposition of material. Most others will severely interfere with pelagic and benthopelagic fauna, at least locally. Some impacts will be directly lethal, but most will impair processes associated with feeding, growth and reproduction, which can ultimately lead to smaller standing stocks, altered communities and loss of biodiversity. The actual scale of effects remains unknown until the pelagic ecosystem is better investigated and the technology becomes specified. In the second section, the guidance provided by the International Seabed Authority (ISA) for baseline studies, environmental impact assessment (EIA) and monitoring in connection with prospecting and exploration of deep-sea mineral resources is reviewed in the light of potential threats to the pelagic ecosystem. Although the ISA recommendations request assessments not only of benthic, but also of pelagic communities, the recommendations remain unspecific in most cases; possible links between benthic and pelagic communities and their consequences for impact assessments are not considered. Some recommendations for modifications and additions to the existing guidelines are presented.
Mineralogy of phosphatized and zeolitized hydrogenous cobalt-rich ferromanganese crusts from Dirck Hartog Ridge (DHR), the Perth Abyssal Plain (PAP), formed on an altered basaltic substrate, is described. Detail studies of crusts were conducted using optical transmitted light microscopy, X-ray Powder Diffraction (XRD) and Energy Dispersive X-ray Fluorescence (EDXRF), Differential Thermal Analysis (DTA) and Electron Probe Microanalysis (EPMA). The major Fe-Mn mineral phases that form DHR crusts are low-crystalline vernadite, asbolane and a feroxyhyte-ferrihydrite mixture. Accessory minerals are Ca-hydroxyapatite, zeolites (Na-phillipsite, chabazite, heulandite-clinoptilolite), glauconite and several clay minerals (Fe-smectite, nontronite, celadonite) are identified in the basalt-crust border zone. The highest Ni, Cu and Co contents are observed in asbolane and Mn-(Fe) vernadite. There is significant enrichment of Ti in feroxyhyte−ferrihydrite and vernadite. The highest rare earth element (REE) content is measured in the phosphate minerals, less in phyllosilicates and Na-phillipsite. The geochemical composition of minerals in the DHR crusts supports the formation of crusts by initial alteration, phosphatization and zeolitization of the substrate basalts followed by oscillatory Fe-Mn oxyhydroxides precipitation of hydrogenous vernadite (oxic conditions) and diagenous asbolane (suboxic conditions).
Loki’s Castle on the Arctic Mid-Ocean Ridge (AMOR) is an area of possible seafloor massive sulphide (SMS)-style mineralisation under Norwegian jurisdiction, which, due to mounting social pressure, may be a strategic future source of base and precious metals. The purpose of this study is to characterise mineralised material from a hydrothermal vent system on the AMOR in detail for the first time, and to discuss the suitability of methods used; reflected light microscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), whole rock geochemistry, electron probe micro-analysis (EPMA), and QEMSCAN. The primary sulphide phases, identifiable by microscopy, are pyrite and marcasite with minor pyrrhotite and galena, but multiple samples from the Loki’s Castle contain economically interesting quantities of copper (hosted in isocubanite and chalcopyrite) and zinc (hosted in sphalerite), as well as silver and gold. This reinforces the notion that slow spreading ridges may host significant base metal deposits. Micro-textures (chalcopyrite inclusions and exsolutions in sphalerite and isocubanite respectively) are typically undefinable by QEMSCAN, and require quantitative measurement by EPMA. QEMSCAN can be used to efficiently generate average grain size and mineral association data, as well as composition data, and is likely to be a powerful tool in assessing the effectiveness of SMS mineral processing.
Deep-ocean mineral deposits could make a significant contribution to future raw material supply. Growing metal demand and geopolitics are focussing increasing attention on their resource potential and economic importance. However, accurate assessment of the total amounts of metal and its recoverability are very difficult. Deep-ocean mineral deposits also provide valuable windows through which to study the Earth, including the evolution of seawater and insights into the exchange of heat and chemicals between the crust and the oceans. Exploration for, and potential extraction of, deep-ocean mineral deposits poses many geological, technical, environmental and economic challenges, as well as regulatory and philosophical questions. Great uncertainty exists, and the development and stewardship of these deposits requires an incremental approach, encouraging transparency and scientific and civil societal input to balance the interests of all.
Deep-sea mining refers to the retrieval of marine mineral resources such as Mn nodules, FeMn crusts, and seafloor massive sulfide deposits, which contain a variety of metals that serve as crucial raw materials for a range of applications, from electronic devices to renewable energy technologies to construction materials. With the intent of decreasing dependence on imports, supporting the economy, and potentially even overcoming the environmental problems related to conventional terrestrial mining, a number of public and private institutions have rediscovered their interest in exploring the prospects of deep-sea mining, which had been deemed economically and technically unfeasible in the early 1980s. To date, many national and international research projects are grappling to understand the economic environmental, social, and legal implications of potential commercial deep-sea mining operations: a challenging endeavor due to the complexity of direct impacts and spillover effects. In this paper, we present a comprehensive overview of the current state of knowledge in the aforementioned fields as well as a comparison of the impacts associated with conventional terrestrial mining. Furthermore, we identify knowledge gaps that should be urgently addressed to ensure that the world at large benefits from safe, efficient, and environmentally sound mining procedures. We conclude by highlighting the need for interdisciplinary research and international cooperation. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2018;14:672–691. © 2018 SETAC
Key Points
The article presents a review of economic, environmental, societal and legal implications of deep-sea mining (and identifies knowledge gaps). A comparison to terrestrial mining impacts is shown. Deep-sea mining is a complex issue touching upon natural and social science, economics, and law. Transdisciplinary research and cooperation is required to make deep-sea mining sustainable.
Potential risks of supply shortages for critical metals including rare-earth elements and yttrium (REY) have spurred great interest in commercial mining of deep-sea mineral resources. Deep-sea mud containing over 5,000 ppm total REY content was discovered in the western North Pacific Ocean near Minamitorishima Island, Japan, in 2013. This REY-rich mud has great potential as a rare-earth metal resource because of the enormous amount available and its advantageous mineralogical features. Here, we estimated the resource amount in REY-rich mud with Geographical Information System software and established a mineral processing procedure to greatly enhance its economic value. The resource amount was estimated to be 1.2 Mt of rare-earth oxide for the most promising area (105 km2 × 0-10 mbsf), which accounts for 62, 47, 32, and 56 years of annual global demand for Y, Eu, Tb, and Dy, respectively. Moreover, using a hydrocyclone separator enabled us to recover selectively biogenic calcium phosphate grains, which have high REY content (up to 22,000 ppm) and constitute the coarser domain in the grain-size distribution. The enormous resource amount and the effectiveness of the mineral processing are strong indicators that this new REY resource could be exploited in the near future.
Species inhabiting deep-sea hydrothermal vents are strongly influenced by the geological setting, as it provides the chemical-rich fluids supporting the food web, creates the patchwork of seafloor habitat, and generates catastrophic disturbances that can eradicate entire communities. The patches of vent habitat host a network of communities (a metacommunity) connected by dispersal of planktonic larvae. The dynamics of the metacommunity are influenced not only by birth rates, death rates and interactions of populations at the local site, but also by regional influences on dispersal from different sites. The connections to other communities provide a mechanism for dynamics at a local site to affect features of the regional biota. In this paper, we explore the challenges and potential benefits of applying metacommunity theory to vent communities, with a particular focus on effects of disturbance. We synthesize field observations to inform models and identify data gaps that need to be addressed to answer key questions including: (1) what is the influence of the magnitude and rate of disturbance on ecological attributes, such as time to extinction or resilience in a metacommunity; (2) what interactions between local and regional processes control species diversity, and (3) which communities are “hot spots” of key ecological significance. We conclude by assessing our ability to evaluate resilience of vent metacommunities to human disturbance (e.g., deep-sea mining). Although the resilience of a few highly disturbed vent systems in the eastern Pacific has been quantified, these values cannot be generalized to remote locales in the western Pacific or mid Atlantic where disturbance rates are different and information on local controls is missing.
This chapter assesses the importance of civil society involvement and public debate for Norwegian petroleum governance. It finds that during the early years of the country’s oil and gas development, the most important choices were made by a small number of decision-makers in government with little input from the rest of society. The attitude of government officials was therefore decisive for Norway’s early successes. During the two first decades of Norway’s petroleum era, also economists at the Ministry of Finance, the Norwegian School of Economics, Statistics Norway and the University of Oslo played important roles. One of the greatest successes of Norwegian oil and gas governance, the sovereign wealth fund, was created by technocrats in interaction with politicians. However, over time, and in a way similar to the Netherlands, civil society and public debate came to play more influential roles. What characterizes contemporary Norwegian petroleum governance is that it has many legs to stand on: an active and diverse civil society, free and diverse media, many political parties representing differing interests, numerous institutions of research and higher education and, importantly, a strong technocracy inside and outside government. In combination, these legs provide for both reliability and dynamism as Norwegian petroleum governance evolves. Finally, a key aspect of Norway’s Nordic model is constant compromise—which is difficult to achieve in more polarized societies.
Providing higher education in the field of Mining Engineering means having the responsibility to provide the necessary competences for the next generations of decision makers in the field of raw material supply. These competences are the basis for solving future problems. A significant issue in the future of mining is Sustainable Development. It comprises the main future challenges in the conflict area between economics, environmental and social matters. The alumni of our study program should be aware of these and prepared for upcoming tasks. Therefore, a continuous integration of Sustainable Development aspects into the curriculum of the international Master of Science Program Mining Engineering at Clausthal University of Technology has been undertaken.
The objective is to prepare graduates at best for their future as professionals in Mining.
For the integration of Sustainability two approaches were followed simultaneously. On the one hand, aspects of Sustainable Development were integrated in the usual technical oriented lectures. On the other hand, a compulsory lecture was installed to give the opportunity to develop an own view of Sustainable Development in Mining.
The lecture titled Advanced Underground Mining combines project-based learning with the approach of just-in-time teaching. The objectives are to link the existent knowledge from other lectures, in order that the student can act as an expert and communicate adequately with different stakeholders. The objective of the lecture titled Sustainability in Underground Mining is to encourage students to develop and express their own opinion. To this end, students elaborate first together in an active atmosphere the Basics and Methods of Sustainable Development, using fictional and real life examples and discuss them. In the second part, different stakeholders give presentation on their field of action. The students get the opportunity to discuss their action and approaches with regard to Sustainability.
The paper presents the mentioned lectures as non-traditional teaching and learning activities. It focuses on frame condition, learning objectives, realization and results.
Robust environmental management of deep-sea mining projects must be integrated into the planning and execution of mining operations, and developed concurrently. It should follow a framework indicating the environmental management-related activities necessary at each project phase, and their interrelationships. An environmental management framework with this purpose is presented in this paper; it facilitates the development of environmental information and decision-making throughout the phases of a mining project. It is based environmental management frameworks used in allied industries, but adjusted for unique characteristics of deep-sea mining. It defines the gathering and synthesis of information and its use in decision-making, and employs a conceptual model as a growing repository of claim-specific information. The environmental management activities at each phase have been designed to enable the implementation of the precautionary approach in decision making, while facilitating review of adaptive management measures to improve environmental management as the quantity and quality of data increases and technologies are honed. This framework will ensure fairness and uniformity in the application of environmental standards, assist the regulator in its requirements to protect the environment, and benefit contractors and financiers by reducing uncertainty in the process.
Manganese nodules occur as two-dimensional deposits in abyssal plains of all major oceans. In the Clarion-Clipperton Zone of the northeast equatorial Pacific alone, the amount of nodules is estimated to 21 billion tons indicating the huge potential of this deposit type. Apart from manganese, metals of economic interest are nickel, copper, and cobalt, but the nodules also contain interesting amounts of molybdenum, titanium, lithium, and the rare earth elements. Therefore they are also called as polymetallic nodules.
The nodules consist of concentrically banded zones of micro-layers around a nucleus. They form by metal precipitation either from the ambient seawater (hydrogenetic) or from pore water in the sediments (diagenetic). They generally consist of a mixture of both genetic types but in varying proportions. Hydrogenetic precipitation leads to the enrichment of other metals than diagenetic precipitation (cobalt, rare earths versus nickel, copper, etc.), thus controlling the general chemical composition of the nodules. It seems that suboxic conditions (dissolved oxygen content is less than 5% of the saturation concentration) are generally necessary for diagenetic formation and oxic conditions for hydrogenetic formation. The change from oxic to suboxic conditions and vice versa is probably climatically controlled.
Manganese nodules from the sediment surface are mainly composed of phyllomanganates such as vernadite, birnessite, and buserite, whereas amounts of todorokite seem to be negligible. Phyllomanganates contain their metals either as substitutes of manganese in octahedral layers or as hydrated cations in the interlayers.
Well-studied occurrences of manganese nodules are known from the Clarion-Clipperton Zone in the NE equatorial Pacific, the Peru Basin in the SE Pacific, the Cook Island region in the SW Pacific, the central Indian Ocean Basin, and the Baltic Sea.
Commercial-scale mining for polymetallic nodules could have a major impact on the deep-sea environment, but the effects of these mining activities on deep-sea ecosystems are very poorly known. The first commercial test mining for polymetallic nodules was carried out in 1970. Since then a number of small-scale commercial test mining or scientific disturbance studies have been carried out. Here we evaluate changes in faunal densities and diversity of benthic communities measured in response to these 11 simulated or test nodule mining disturbances using meta-analysis techniques. We find that impacts are often severe immediately after mining, with major negative changes in density and diversity of most groups occurring. However, in some cases, the mobile fauna and small-sized fauna experienced less negative impacts over the longer term. At seven sites in the Pacific, multiple surveys assessed recovery in fauna over periods of up to 26 years. Almost all studies show some recovery in faunal density and diversity for meiofauna and mobile megafauna, often within one year. However, very few faunal groups return to baseline or control conditions after two decades. The effects of polymetallic nodule mining are likely to be long term. Our analyses show considerable negative biological effects of seafloor nodule mining, even at the small scale of test mining experiments, although there is variation in sensitivity amongst organisms of different sizes and functional groups, which have important implications for ecosystem responses. Unfortunately, many past studies have limitations that reduce their effectiveness in determining responses. We provide recommendations to improve future mining impact test studies. Further research to assess the effects of test-mining activities will inform ways to improve mining practices and guide effective environmental management of mining activities.
Marine phosphorites are known to concentrate rare earth elements and yttrium (REY) during early diagenetic formation. Much of the REY data available are decades old and incomplete, and there has not been a systematic study of REY distributions in marine phosphorite deposits that formed over a range of oceanic environments. Consequently, we initiated this study to determine if marine phosphorite deposits found in the global ocean host REY concentrations of high enough grade to be of economic interest. This paper addresses continental-margin (CM) and open-ocean seamount phosphorites. All 75 samples analyzed are composed predominantly of carbonate fluorapatite and minor detrital and authigenic minerals. CM phosphorites have low total REY contents (mean 161 ppm) and high heavy REY (HREY) complements (mean 49%), while seamount phosphorites have 4–6 times higher individual REY contents (except for Ce, which is subequal; mean ΣREY 727 ppm), and very high HREY complements (mean 60%). The predominant causes of higher concentrations and larger HREY complements in seamount phosphorites compared to CM phosphorites are age, changes in seawater REY concentrations over time, water depth of formation, changes in pH and complexing ligands, and differences in organic carbon content in the depositional environments. Potential ore deposits with high HREY complements, like the marine phosphorites analyzed here, could help supply the HREY needed for high-tech and green-tech applications without creating an oversupply of the LREY.
Pacific) will impact one of the most remote and least known environments on Earth. Since vast areas are being targeted by concession holders for future mining, large-scale effects of these activities are expected. Hence, insight into the fauna associated with nodules is crucial to support effective environmental management. In this study video surveys were used to compare the epifauna from sites with contrasting nodule coverage in four license areas. Results showed that epifaunal densities are more than two times higher at dense nodule coverage (>25 versus ≤10 individuals per 100 m 2), and that taxa such as alcyonacean and antipatharian corals are virtually absent from nodule-free areas. Furthermore, surveys conducted along tracks from trawling or experimental mining simulations up to 37 years old, suggest that the removal of epifauna is almost complete and that its full recovery is slow. By highlighting the importance of nodules for the epifaunal biodiversity of this abyssal area, we urge for cautious consideration of the criteria for determining future preservation zones.
Deep-ocean ferromanganese crusts and manganese nodules are important marine repositories for global metals. Interest in these minerals as potential resources has led to detailed sampling in many regions of the global ocean, allowing for updated estimates of their global extent. Here, we present global estimates of total tonnage as well as contained metal concentrations and tonnages for ferromanganese crusts and manganese nodules using the most extensive compilation of geochemical data collected to date, along with updated boundaries of regions of interest for these minerals. We present results from mean composition calculated in two ways: first, a global flat average of regional mean compositions, and second, a regionally weighted average that considers differences in chemistry among genetic types and/or oceanographic and geologic settings for these mineral occurrences. For nodules, we use the three genetic types: (1) hydrogenetic, typified by nodules from the West Pacific Nodule Field and Penrhyn Basin; (2) diagenetic, typified by nodules from the Peru Basin; (3) mixed hydrogenetic-diagenetic, typified by nodules from the Clarion–Clipperton Zone and the Central Indian Ocean Basin, and Atlantic Ocean regional type hydrogenetic nodules. All crusts considered here are of hydrogenetic origin, which we divide into seven regional types that reflect a combination of ocean basin and other source inputs. Crust types include Arctic Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean, Continental Margin, Prime Crust Zone (PCZ), North Pacific (non PCZ), and South Pacific. Based on our areal estimates, we find that abyssal regions likely to contain hydrogenetic-type nodules are by far the most widespread in the global ocean (47% of total area), Atlantic Ocean (28%) are next, followed by mixed diagenetic-hydrogenetic (22%) and diagenetic (3%) types. For crusts, the Prime Crust Zone is the most extensive global region (27% of total area) followed by South Pacific (20%), Indian Ocean (18%), North Pacific (12%), Continental Margins (11%), Atlantic Ocean (10%), and Arctic Ocean (2%) types. The global total tonnage estimates that we calculated from this method are 21 × 10¹⁰ dry tons for manganese nodules, within the range of previous estimates, and 93 × 10¹⁰dry tons for ferromanganese crusts, which is 4.5 times higher than the 20 × 10¹⁰dry tons reported by Hein et al. (2003). This geology and oceanography driven approach to marine mineral quantification contrasts with estimates typically carried out for terrestrial mineral resource deposits. Nevertheless, these estimates and the data that support them demonstrate that marine minerals are an impressive repository for global metals.
The International Seabed Authority (ISA) is an autonomous international organization established under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982 (UNCLOS) to organize and control the exploration for and exploitation of seabed mineral resources in areas beyond the limits of national jurisdiction. A system for exploration of mineral resources have been in existence for some time now and the ISA is currently in the midst of developing regulations for exploitation activities. Between 2014 and 2020, the ISA has made considerable progress in respect of the latter. However, with the COVID-19 pandemic, most of the work of the ISA, including the development of regulations for exploitation, have been on hiatus since March 2020. In late June 2021, the Republic of Nauru invoked a legal provision that essentially compels the ISA to accelerate the completion of the exploitation regulations. If the ISA fails to complete this within the prescribed time of two years, i.e. by July 2023, the ISA would have to consider and decide upon applications for mining contracts notwithstanding the absence of the exploitation regulations. Two years is not a long period, especially given that the COVID-19 pandemic continues to prevent member States from meeting in person at the ISA to continue negotiations on the exploitation regulations. Moreover, apart from having to resolve outstanding matters in relation to the exploitation regulations, the ISA would also need to address numerous other matters that intrinsically connect to the design of a functional system of exploitation. This paper reflects upon the key outstanding matters, both within and outside the exploitation regulations, which the ISA would need to urgently address and resolve within the two-year deadline.
This article provides a critical evaluation of the International Seabed Authority’s (ISA) management of Deep Sea Mining (DSM) activities in the undersea area lying beyond sovereign territory. By juxtaposing the ISA’s nascent regulatory framework against one of the world’s most successful resource management regimes in Norway, we can clearly see how the ISA is unable to pursue the sort of strategic ownership that is necessary to secure the rents generated from these natural resources; rents which rightfully belong to the common heritage of mankind. In particular, we suggest that the ISA should: secure a better balance of institutional power across its policy, regulatory and operational roles; develop a more explicit policy for protecting the public’s interest (both current and future generations) as the owner of these resources; play a more active role in assembling and managing the access it allocates to these resources; and begin the discussion about how best to manage the wealth generated by these resources in a way that can ensure its just distribution.
This Review focuses on whether the emerging industry of deep-seabed mining aligns with the sustainable development agenda. We cover motivations for deep-seabed mining, including to source metals for technology that assists with decarbonization, as well as governance issues surrounding the extraction of minerals. Questions of sustainability and ethics, including environmental, legal, social and rights-based challenges, are considered. Slowing the transition from exploration to exploitation and promoting a circular economy may have regulatory, technological and environmental benefits. This Review covers the sustainability of deep-seabed mining, suggesting a slower transition from exploration to exploitation may be beneficial.
Copper, zinc, gold and silver mineralizations exist on the deep ocean floor, at great depths, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between Jan Mayen and Spitsbergen. None of these mineralizations within Norwegian jurisdiction have been thoroughly investigated yet, but they are likely to contain significant amounts of minerals and metals crucial to society and the ‘Green Shift’.
Should these mineralizations, which contain minerals and metals that you and I use every day, be developed and mined? The question is premature: we need to know more before we can answer it. We need to know more about the formation, location and characteristics of these potential deposits, as well as the environmental, social and financial consequences of potential extraction. We need to evaluate mining alternatives and how to process the extracted ore. How should we answer this question? The ultimate decisions will be determined politically, and knowledge will be the defining factor. Knowledge gained from proper mineral resource management.
Quantifying the Unknown sets out to estimate the amount of minerals and metals on the deep ocean floor along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, in particular, copper, zinc, gold and silver contained in so-called ‘seafloor massive sulphide deposits’. These deposits are modern analogues of those mined worldwide on land today. The method used to quantify the amounts of these resources is known as ‘play analysis’. It shares aspects of methodologies used on land for similar purposes and has been employed extensively to assess untapped petroleum resources on the Norwegian Continental Shelf. Play analysis enables a quantification of the potential as well as associated uncertainty.
The potential is large, but the uncertainty is also significant. Whether and how this potential is realized remains to be seen.
This chapter describes the principal factors that govern fluid flow and pressure in sedimentary basins, how they can be measured and modelled and finally what role fluids play in conventional petroleum systems evaluation including generation, migration and entrapment of hydrocarbons. Fluid flow and in particular hydrocarbon movement are of great interest to the petroleum industry and therefore there is a vast body of literature. This chapter is therefore restricted to some key aspects dealing with the fundamentals of fluid flow in sedimentary basins and petroleum systems.
Of late, there has been a rise in interest in deep-sea minerals such as manganese nodules. Commercial mining operations to extract such minerals may commence soon. However, deep-sea mining projects were already underway in the 1960s and in an advanced stage of development by the 1970s, only to be shelved again in the 1980s. This paper examines a half a century of history of deep-sea mining and discusses how changing political, legal, economic, and socio-cultural policy frameworks contributed to its rise, fall, and eventual rebirth. In doing so, it is shown that the path towards commercial mining is less straightforward or inevitable than it may seem to current proponents and critics of deep-sea mining. This paper also uses the case of manganese nodules to illustrate how mineral concentrations can gain, lose, and regain their status of a resource depending on social, political, legal, and economic factors. The “becoming” of resources is an open-ended, reversible and sometimes incomplete process.
Norway has started ongoing initiatives related to deep sea mining. These include the evaluation of mineral resources within its sovereign territorial waters on the deep ocean floor of the Arctic region, i.e. the Mohns Ridge (71-73°N). Among the variety of possible seabed resources, seafloor massive sulfides (SMS) attract particular interest. Owing to the significant development potential and the general lack of knowledge of the SMS deposits, the present study aims at assessing mineral resources (i.e., Cu, Zn, Au and Ag) from a number of undiscovered sulfide deposits with the help of a revised model for mafic-hosted volcanogenic massive sulfide (VMS) deposits that adequately corresponds to geological settings of slow-spreading ridges. Application of the model requires a priori knowledge of the seafloor terrain to depict favorable geologic environments for the occurrence of SMS deposits. In such context, estimates are conducted for the easily accessible volcanically active parts of the ridge where 11 undiscovered deposits are expected. In these areas, total metal endowments are calculated to be on average 447,000 tonnes using a Monte Carlo simulation that combines the probabilistic estimates of number of undiscovered deposits with the grade and tonnage models. Estimates of in-place metal resources are generated in cumulative distribution form to present expected amount of undiscovered metals at 90% confidence intervals.
Predictive geometallurgy tries to optimize the mineral value chain based on a precise and quantitative understanding of: The geology and mineralogy of the ores, the minerals processing, and the economics of mineral commodities. This chapter describes the state of the art and the mathematical building blocks of a pos- sible solution to this problem. This solution heavily relies on all classical fields of mathematical geosciences and geoinformatics, but requires new mathematical and computational developments. Geometallurgy can thus become a new defining chal- lenge for mathematical geosciences, in the same fashion as geostatistics has been in the first 50 years of the IAMG.
With increasing demand for mineral resources, extraction of polymetallic sulphides at hydrothermal vents, cobalt-rich ferromanganese crusts at seamounts, and polymetallic nodules on abyssal plains may be imminent. Here, we shortly introduce ecosystem characteristics of mining areas, report on recent mining developments, and identify potential stress and disturbances created by mining. We analyze species’ potential resistance to future mining and perform meta-analyses on population density and diversity recovery after disturbances most similar to mining: volcanic eruptions at vents, fisheries on seamounts, and experiments that mimic nodule mining on abyssal plains. We report wide variation in recovery rates among taxa, size, and mobility of fauna. While densities and diversities of some taxa can recover to or even exceed pre-disturbance levels, community composition remains affected after decades. The loss of hard substrata or alteration of substrata composition may cause substantial community shifts that persist over geological timescales at mined sites.
Research summary : T his article provides a review of real options theory ( ROT ) in strategic management research. We review the fundamentals of ROT and provide a taxonomy of this research. By synthesizing and critiquing research on real options, we identify a number of important challenges as well as opportunities for ROT if it is to enhance its impact on strategic management and potentially develop into a theoretical pillar in the field. We examine how ROT can inform the key tensions that managers face between commitment versus flexibility as well as between competition versus cooperation, and we show how it can uniquely address the fundamental issues in strategy. We conclude with suggestions on future research directions that could enhance and unify the thus‐far distinct main approaches to real options research .
Managerial summary : R eal options theory ( ROT ) applies the heuristics and valuation models originally designed for financial securities to the domain of corporate investment decisions (e.g., joint ventures [ JV s], foreign direct investment, research and development [R&D], etc.) and strategic decision making under uncertainty. This article provides a synthesis of this body of research in strategic management and related disciplines. We suggest how ROT can address fundamental issues of strategy, including the dilemmas managers face between commitment versus flexibility as well as between competition versus cooperation. We discuss how three distinct approaches to real options analysis can complement each other, and we identify some of the main challenges and opportunities for ROT to become a theoretical pillar in strategy . Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Since 1939, the U.S. government, using the National Defense Stockpile (NDS), has been stockpiling critical strategic materials for national defense. The economic and national security environments, however, have changed significantly from the time the NDS was created. Current threats are more varied, production and processing of key materials is more globally dispersed, the global competition for raw materials is increasing, the U.S. military is more dependent on civilian industry, and industry depends far more on just-in-time inventory control. To help determine the significance of these changes for the strategic materials stockpile, the Department of Defense asked the NRC to assess the continuing need for and value of the NDS. This report begins with the historical context of the NDS. It then presents a discussion of raw-materials and minerals supply, an examination of changing defense planning and materials needs, an analysis of modern tools used to manage materials supply chains, and an assessment of current operational practices of the NDS. © 2008 by the National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Deep-sea hydrothermal vent communities are characterized by complicated taxonomic, trophic, and spatial structure. Different animals consume chemosynthetic bacterial production to a variable extent and by different ways. Different animal groups demonstrate variable degree of adaptations to the extreme environment of hydrothermal vent systems. According to their ecological requirements, vent animal populations occupy different zones within the vent field. The boundaries of different vent fauna assemblages could be rather sharp or feebly marked appearing to be defined by gradients of water chemistry as well as the hydrodynamic regime within the vent field. To ensure the correct analyses of bioconcentration function (BCF) of vent organisms, such factors as taxonomic position, trophic specialization, patterns of physiology, ontogenetic stages, and spatial disposition of animal population within the vent field should be taken into consideration.
Mineral resource management (MRM) practice has developed in South Africa over the course of the last ten years, with the purpose of integrating previously isolated technical functions into a value chain aligned, process organization, responsible for mine planning and optimization. The implementation of MRM within various companies has met with varying degrees of success, often resulting in incremental improvements in the planning process and, conversely, often becoming the scapegoat for poor delivery on plans and projects. The reason for this has been, amongst others, a lack of a suitable metric to define the success rate of MRM in the business at hand, in terms of its contribution to the bottom line. This paper is the result of extensive research by the author into this subject, which has resulted in the conclusion that economic value added is an appropriate measure that will lead to real optimization and value creation in mining companies, if applied within a new, holistic model
On 20 August 1939 in the fuzzily demarcated no-man's land between Soviet-Protectorate Mongolia and Japanese-occupied Manchukuo (Manchuria) near Lake Buir Noir one of the most important but largely forgotten battles of the Second World War began with a morning bombardment by 200 Soviet bombers. After months of incursions by Japan's Kwantung Army, Stalin instructed his new commander in the east, Georgy Zhukov, to move over to the offensive. The battle would be a setpiece display of Soviet military-industrial modernity. Against the Japanese the Red Army amassed 581 aircraft, and 498 armoured vehicles, including a few prototypes of what would become the legendary T-34. Over 4,000 trucks moved 50,000 tons of supplies hundreds of miles to the front line; by contrast the Japanese had just 800 trucks in all of Manchuria. By the opening of the battle of Khalkhin Gol, the Soviets outnumbered the Japanese 2:1 in planes, tanks and artillery. After wrong-footing the Japanese with weeks of disinformation operations, two Soviet motorized pincers, covered by smothering tactical air support, swung around the Japanese northern and southern flanks, encircling and destroying the entire Kwantung's 6th Army. Foreshadowing the German Blitzkrieg, the Soviet attack taught the Japanese a humiliating lesson in the backwardness of their own army, which since 1937 had been engaged in a running battle with inferior Chinese forces. Nomonhan, as the Japanese called it, was only the opening trailer. Six years later, in the spring of 1945 as he prepared the last assault on Berlin, Zhukov would array 7,500 combat aircraft, 14,600 guns, 3,155 tanks and self-propelled guns, and over 1,500 rocket launchers. As the victor in the most intensive land conflict the world had ever seen, the Soviet Union between 1941 and 1945 equipped its forces with over 100,000 tanks, 130,000 aircraft, 800,000 guns and mortars, 1 billion shells and bombs, and 40 billion small arms cartridges.