The Evaluation For Oceanic Co-rich Ferromanganese Crust

Exploring submarine mineral resources and setting up new base of resources are an important strategy for achieving sustainable development of the national economy. The co-rich ferromanganese crust which includes many kinds of strategic mines is worthy of the exploration. And it is very necessary to study the methods of evaluation to the co-rich ferromanganese crust. Geological and economical evaluation methods for on-going Chinese exploration on the oceanic cobalt-rich ferromanganese crusts are discussed. The importance of several key indexes including the gradient of seamount, abundance, thickness, coverage and metal grade of crusts is emphasized. The resource evaluation method must be correspond with the exploration proceeds. In view of the present objective for the selection of exploration area, the geological method for the resource assessment should be emphasized at the first. Some currently used methods to assess the co-balt resources are discussed. Arithmetic average method is suitable for the first and the last stage, and the Kridge method is the best in the middle stage for the evaluation of co-rich manganese crust.Based on China's survey data in A seamount, the authors suggest a mining site there with the expecting annual production of 3 million tons of dry co-balt crusts for a period of 30 years and also at the same time with the recovery of Mn.Cu.Co and Ni. The smeltery can be set up at Qingdao. According to metal prices in international market and through the analysis of investment and production, the authors have tried to find out the factors that have affected the investments in the exploitation of co-balt crusts and also have discussed economic benefits in static and dynamic conditions. The authors think that the exploitation of the co-balt crusts would be a very profitable job in spite of the vast investment, complicated techniques and great risks. With the near exhaustion of land resources and the advancement of science and technology ,the issue would be placed on the agenda in the coming years.