Expert: raw materials on the ocean floor to compete with fossil on land

One of the main types of mineral deposits on the bottom of reservoirs are ferromanganese crusts (FMN) – a form of accumulation of ore with a predominance in the chemical composition of iron and manganese. Industrial value may have, in particular, mining cobalt-rich ferromanganese crusts formed on the bottom of the ocean in the gate area hydrothermal vents called "black smokers", said the expert. "As a potential mineral resources, iron-manganese crusts – absolutely the right thing. Content of rare earth metals exceeds the concentration of ores, for example, deposits of China, forming the basis of world market of rare earth "- said during a TV Cherkashev in RIA Novosti on Wednesday. According to him, mankind may seek to develop minerals is the bottom of the ocean after 10-20 years. "The reality it will be when will work three factors: high prices on the metals market, a great demand for metals and enough high-tech. Prices are fairly stable – metals in general have lost their positions, even in times of crisis, the demand for rare earth metals are also always great. Finally, technologies are rapidly evolving and the first production from a depth of 1.5 km has been planned for over two years, the Canadian-Australian company Nautilus Minerals in the economic zone of Papua New Guinea. This precedent will work as a trigger, "- said Cherkashev. Meanwhile, on Wednesday it became known that in the coming months, Russia will begin to explore mineral resources in the Atlantic, in the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. ISA approved in July, Russia's bid for exploration of polymetallic sulphide deposits. Land of the ocean floor area of 100 square kilometers, to the research, is located approximately at the latitude of the Cape Verde islands in international waters. The cost of works is estimated at 7-20 million per year. Fifteen-year contract for exploration Russia will be signed in November, said deputy director of the department of state policy and regulation in the field of geology and mineral resources Natural Resources of Russia Daria Wasilewska. The first expedition under contract to explore for deposits of polysulfide can go out into the Atlantic in February and March 2012, RIA Novosti said the chief of the geological division of the Polar Marine Geological Prospecting Expedition, Anatoly Laibach.